| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | critical, important |
| Synonyms: | acute, central, clamorous, climacteric, climatic, compelling, deciding, decisive, desperate, dire, essential, hanging by thread, high-priority, imperative, insistent, momentous, necessary, on thin ice, pivotal, pressing, searching, showdown, touch and go, touchy, urgent, vital |
| Notes: | the words crucial, essential, and vital cannot be qualified (cannot be more or less...) |
| Antonyms: | inessential, trivial, uncritical, unimportant |
| Main Entry: | big league |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | important |
| Synonyms: | big-time, chief, critical, crucial, exceptional, four-star, front-page, grave, great, heavy, high-power, major-league, playing hard ball, professional, serious, strictly business |
| Main Entry: | burning |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | important |
| Synonyms: | acute, clamant, clamorous, compelling, critical, crucial, crying, dire, essential, exigent, imperative, importunate, instant, pressing, significant, urgent, vital |
| Antonyms: | unimportant |
| Main Entry: | chief |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | most important, essential |
| Synonyms: | arch, capital, cardinal, central, champion, consequential, controlling, crucial, effective, especial, first, foremost, grand, head, highest, key, leading, main, major, momentous, number one, outstanding, paramount, potent, predominant, preeminent, premier, primal, primary, prime, principal, ruling, significant, star, stellar, superior, supreme, telling, uppermost, vital, weighty |
| Antonyms: | inessential, minor, secondary, subordinate, unimportant, unnecessary |
| Main Entry: | climactic/climacteric |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | decisive |
| Synonyms: | acute, climactical, critical, crucial, desperate, dire, paramount, peak |
| Antonyms: | anticlimacteric, anticlimactic, bathetic, indecisive, trivial, undecided |
| Main Entry: | critical |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | urgently important |
| Synonyms: | acute, all-important, climacteric, conclusive, consequential, crucial, dangerous, deciding, decisive, desperate, determinative, dire, exceptive, grave, hairy*, hazardous, high-priority, integral, momentous, perilous, pivotal, precarious, pressing, risky, serious, significant, strategic, urgent, vital, weighty |
| Antonyms: | trivial, uncritical, unimportant |
| Main Entry: | deciding |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | determining |
| Synonyms: | chief, conclusive, critical, crucial, decisive, important, influential, key, necessary, prime, principal, significant |
| Antonyms: | inconclusive, insignificant, secondary, trivial, uncritical, unimportant |
| Main Entry: | decisive |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | definite |
| Synonyms: | absolute, all out, assured, bent, certain, conclusive, crisp, critical, crucial, decided, definitive, determined, fateful, final, firm, flat out, forceful, imperative, imperious, incisive, influential, intent, litmus test, momentous, peremptory, positive, resolute, resolved, set, settled, significant, straight out, strong-minded, trenchant |
| Notes: | decided means recognizable, marked, unmistakable or definite, while decisive means having the power to determine an outcome or being conclusive |
| Antonyms: | indecisive, indefinite, procrastinating, unpositive |
| Main Entry: | desperate |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | extreme, intense |
| Synonyms: | acute, climacteric, concentrated, critical, crucial, dire, drastic, exquisite, fierce, furious, great, terrible, urgent, vehement, very grave, vicious, violent |
| Antonyms: | calm, content, contented, satisfactory, satisfied |