critical

critical is a 8-letter English word with 13 senses as noun and adjective in the JumbleFix dictionary. One common meaning is: Qualified to criticise, or pass judgment upon, literary or artistic productions. Face value is 12 in Scrabble and 15 in Words With Friends. Use the entries below when you need a playable sense, a nearby word, or another arrangement of the same letters.

8 letters · Scrabble 12 · Words With Friends 15 · 13 senses

Definitions

1. noun. Qualified to criticise, or pass judgment upon, literary or artistic productions.
2. noun. Pertaining to criticism or the critic's art; of the nature of a criticism; accurate; as, critical knowledge; a critical dissertation.
3. noun. Inclined to make nice distinctions, or to exercise careful judgment and selection; exact; nicely judicious.
4. noun. Inclined to criticise or find fault; fastidious; captious; censorious; exacting.
5. noun. Characterized by thoroughness and a reference to principles, as becomes a critic; as, a critical analysis of a subject.
6. noun. Pertaining to, or indicating, a crisis, turning point, or specially important juncture; important as regards consequences; hence, of doubtful issue; attended with risk; dangerous; as, the critical stage of a fever; a critical situation.
7. adjective. marked by a tendency to find and call attention to errors and flaws

   "a critical attitude"

8. adjective. characterized by careful evaluation and judgment

   "a critical reading"

   "a critical dissertation"

9. adjective. being in or verging on a state of crisis or emergency

   "a critical shortage of food"

   "a critical illness"

10. adjective. at or of a point at which a property or phenomenon suffers an abrupt change especially having enough mass to sustain a chain reaction

    "a critical temperature of water is 100 degrees C--its boiling point at standard atmospheric pressure"

    "critical mass"

11. adjective. forming or having the nature of a turning point or crisis

    "a critical point in the campaign"

    "the critical test"

    Synonyms: decisive

12. adjective. urgently needed; absolutely necessary

    "a critical element of the plan"

    "critical medical supplies"

    Synonyms: vital

13. adjective. of or involving or characteristic of critics or criticism

    "critical acclaim"

Synonyms

decisive, vital

Common word forms

critically, criticality, criticalness

Words from these letters

If you are holding these tiles, the unscrambler for CRITICAL lists every valid word you can make from the same letters, including shorter plays.