crucial
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crucial
- /ˈkɹuː.ʃəl/
Rhymes with -uːʃəl
Where it comes from
1706, from French crucial, a medical term for ligaments of the knee (which cross each other), from Latin crux, crucis (“cross”) (English crux), from the Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, to bend”).
The meaning “decisive, critical” is extended from a logical term, Instantias Crucis, adopted by Francis Bacon in his influential Novum Organum (1620); the notion is of cross fingerboard signposts at forking roads, thus a requirement to choose.
adjective more crucial · most crucial
- Essential or decisive for determining the outcome or future of something; extremely important; vital. The battle of Tali-Ihantala in 1944 is one of the crucial moments in the history of Finland.
- Cruciform or cruciate; cross-shaped.
- Very good; excellent; particularly applied to reggae music. Delbert Wilkins is the most crucial pirate radio DJ in Brixton.
