Crucial \Cru"cial\ (kr?"shal), a. [F. crucial, fr. L. crux,
crucis, cross, torture. See Cross.]
1. Having the form of a cross; appertaining to a cross;
cruciform; intersecting; as, crucial ligaments; a crucial
incision.
[1913 Webster]
2. Severe; trying or searching, as if bringing to the cross;
decisive; as, a crucial test.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
crucial
adj 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" [syn: important]
[ant: noncrucial]
2: having crucial relevance; "crucial to the case"; "relevant
testimony" [syn: relevant]
3: of the greatest importance; "the all-important subject of
disarmament"; "crucial information"; "in chess cool nerves
are of the essence" [syn: all-important(a), all
important(p), essential, of the essence(p)]
4: having the power or quality of deciding; "the crucial
experiment"; "cast the deciding vote"; "the determinative
(or determinant) battle" [syn: deciding(a), determinant,
determinative, determining(a)]
WordNet (r) 2.0
55 Moby Thesaurus words for "crucial":
aboriginal, acute, basal, basic, central, charged, clamorous,
climacteric, compelling, critical, crying, deciding, decisive,
desperate, dire, elemental, elementary, embryonic, emergent,
essential, exigent, fundamental, generative, genetic, germinal,
high-pressure, high-priority, imperative, imperious, important,
in embryo, in ovo, insistent, instant, kairotic, loaded, major,
momentous, necessary, original, pivotal, pregnant, pressing,
primal, primary, primeval, primitive, primordial, pristine,
protogenic, radical, rudimentary, seminal, urgent, vital
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
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