Link Centre Dictionary

crucial

cru·cial

UK/ˈkɹuː.ʃəl/ US/ˈkruʃʌl/ fairly common slang

adjective

1.

of extreme importance; vital to the resolution of a crisis

  • “a crucial moment in his career”
  • “a crucial election”
  • “a crucial issue for women”
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2.

having crucial relevance

  • “crucial to the case”
  • “relevant testimony”
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3.

of the greatest importance

  • “the all-important subject of disarmament”
  • “crucial information”
  • “in chess cool nerves are of the essence”
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4.

having the power or quality of deciding

  • “the crucial experiment”
  • “cast the deciding vote”
  • “the determinative (or determinant) battle”
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Origin

1706, from French crucial, a medical term for ligaments of the knee (which cross each other), from Latin crux, crucis (“cross”) (English crux), from the Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, to bend”). The meaning “decisive, critical” is extended from a logical term, Instantias Crucis, adopted by Francis Bacon in his influential Novum Organum (1620); the notion is of cross fingerboard signposts at forking roads, thus a requirement to choose.

Phrases

  • crucial experiment

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Word family

See also

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.