critical

/'krItIkFl/ adjective

1 MAKING SEVERE JUDGMENTS someone who is critical makes severe and often unfair judgments of people or things: I don't mean to be over critical, but isn't all of this completely unnecessary?

(+ of): Pat is always very critical of her son's appearance.

2 IMPORTANT very important because what happens in the future depends on it: We need an immediate decision on this critical issue. | be critical to: Parental attention is critical to the child's socialization. | of critical importance (=very important): Finding the source of the gas leak was of critical importance.

3 DANGEROUS/UNCERTAIN a critical time or moment is one that is dangerous or uncertain because a sudden change to a better or a worse condition is possible: David is at a critical stage in the illness.

4 MAKING FAIR JUDGMENTS providing careful and fair judgments of the good and bad characteristics of something: a critical analysis of Stevens' poem

5 ART/FILM/BOOKS ETC produced by or resulting from the work of critics: `The Piano' got a lot of critical acclaim, but I didn't like the music in it. | a critical success (=the critics liked it)

6 in a critical condition BrE, in critical condition AmE so ill that you could die: The patient is in critical condition at Bellvue Hospital tonight.

7 the critical list a list of people in hospital who are so ill that they could die: He was taken off the critical list last night, so we're very relieved.

8 with a critical eye if you look at or examine something with a critical eye, you examine it carefully in order to judge its good and bad qualities