| 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 |