crucial
American Heritage Dictionary:
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cru·cial
(krū'shəl) 
adj.
adj.
- Extremely significant or important: a crucial problem.
- Vital to the resolution of a crisis; decisive: a crucial election. See synonyms at decisive.
- Archaic. Having the form of a cross; cross-shaped.
[From New Latin (īnstantia) crucis, (experīmentum) crucis, crossroads (case), crossroads (experiment), from Latin crux, cruc-, cross. Sense 2, French, from Old French, from Latin crux.]
crucially cru'cial·ly adv.WORD HISTORY A crucial election is like a signpost because it shows which way the electorate is moving. The metaphor of a signpost, in fact, gives us the sense of the word crucial, "of supreme importance, critical." Francis Bacon used the phrase instantia crucis, "crucial instance," to refer to something in an experiment that proves one of two hypotheses and disproves the other. Bacon's phrase was based on a sense of the Latin word crux, "cross," which had come to mean "a guidepost that gives directions at a place where one road becomes two," and hence was suitable for Bacon's metaphor. Both Robert Boyle, often called the father of modern chemistry, and Isaac Newton used the similar Latin phrase experimentum crucis, "crucial experiment." When these phrases were translated into English, they became crucial instance and crucial experiment.
Fowler's Modern English Usage:
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crucial
1. Crucial means 'decisive, critical', and is often used as a more effective and more expressive alternative for important or significant:
There are four crucial stages in cheesemaking—J. G. Davis, 1976
I understand that you must edit letters, but the crucial point on avoiding sexist language was omitted—Today's Horse, 1991.
2. The same thing has happened to the adverb crucially, which is sometimes used as a synonym of 'importantly', and even of 'very' or 'extremely':
At this juncture, two crucially fundamental questions now emerge—Guardian, 1989
Crucially, he promised to undertake an immediate and fundamental review of the tax—Parliamentary Affairs, 1991.
| crown, crow verb, crotch, crutch | |
| cruel, crumby, crummy, cubic, cubical |
Roget's Thesaurus:
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crucial
adjective
- So serious as to be at the point of crisis or necessary to resolve a crisis: acute, climacteric, critical, desperate, dire. See safety/danger.
- Determining or having the power to determine an outcome: conclusive, deciding, decisive, determinative. See decide/hesitate, important/unimportant.
Antonyms by Answers.com:
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crucial
adj
Definition: critical, important
Antonyms: inessential, trivial, uncritical, unimportant
Word Tutor:
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crucially
IN BRIEF: Being very important.
Like many other crucially important technologies, hay emerged anonymously during the so-called Dark Ages.
— Freeman Dyson.
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See crossword solutions for the clue Translations:
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Crucial
Dansk (Danish)
adj. - afgørende
Nederlands (Dutch)
cruciaal, beslissend, fantastisch
Français (French)
adj. - crucial, essentiel, (GB) super
Deutsch (German)
adj. - entscheidend
Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - ζωτικός, κρίσιμος, αποφασιστικός
Português (Portuguese)
adj. - crucial
Русский (Russian)
первостепенной важности
Español (Spanish)
adj. - crucial, decisivo
Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - avgörande, kritisk, mycket svår, prövande, korsformig
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
决定性的, 严厉的, 重要的
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 決定性的, 嚴厲的, 重要的
日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 決定的な, 重大な, 十字形の
العربيه (Arabic)
(صفه) حاسم, فاصل, حرج
עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - מכריע, קריטי
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American Heritage Dictionary
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Roget's Thesaurus
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 byHoughton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Oxford Dictionary of Modern Slang
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Bradford's Crossword Solver's Dictionary
Collins Bradford's Crossword Solver's Dictionary © Anne Bradford, 1986, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2008
HarperCollins Publishers
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