critical

inclined to find fault or to judge with severity, often too readily.

Parents who are too critical make their children anxious.

Synonyms:

carping, censorious, captious, faultfinding

involving criticism, or skillful judgment as to truth, merit, etc..

The article provides a critical analysis of the Gulf War.

Synonyms:

precise, exact, judicious, discriminating

occupied with or skilled in criticism.

She was one of the great critical journalists of the 20th century.

of or relating to critics or criticism, especially of literature, film, music, etc..

Critical appreciation of this author’s work has peaked in recent years.

providing textual variants, proposed emendations, etc..

The library has a new critical edition of Chaucer.

of the nature of a crisis; threatening a seriously bad outcome; grave.

There was a critical shortage of food.

of decisive importance with respect to the outcome; crucial.

The nation is facing a critical moment in its history.

essential; indispensable.

Cocoa butter is a critical ingredient in chocolate.

Medicine/Medical. having unstable and abnormal vital signs and other unfavorable indicators, as loss of appetite, poor mobility, or unconsciousness.

The patient has been upgraded from critical to stable.

Physics.

1. pertaining to a state, value, or quantity at which one or more properties of a substance or system undergo a change.

   The critical temperature of benzene is 289° C.

2. (of fissionable material) having enough mass to sustain a chain reaction.

   They told us about a lab where some plutonium went critical.

containing or making severe or negative judgments

containing careful or analytical evaluations

a critical dissertation

of or involving a critic or criticism

of or forming a crisis; crucial; decisive

a critical operation

urgently needed

critical medical supplies

informal so seriously injured or ill as to be in danger of dying

physics of, denoting, or concerned with a state in which the properties of a system undergo an abrupt change

a critical temperature

(of a nuclear power station or reactor) to reach a state in which a nuclear-fission chain reaction becomes self-sustaining