Associations to the word «Critical»

CRITICAL, adjective. Inclined to find fault or criticize; fastidious; captious; censorious; exacting.

CRITICAL, adjective. Pertaining to, or indicating, a crisis or turning point.

CRITICAL, adjective. Extremely important.

CRITICAL, adjective. Relating to criticism or careful analysis, such as literary or film criticism.

CRITICAL, adjective. (medicine) Of a patient condition involving unstable vital signs and a prognosis that predicts the condition could worsen; or, a patient condition that requires urgent treatment in an intensive care or critical care medical facility.

CRITICAL, adjective. Likely to go out of control if disturbed, that is, opposite of stable.

CRITICAL, adjective. Of the point (in temperature, reagent concentration etc.) where a nuclear or chemical reaction becomes self-sustaining.

CRITICAL, noun. A critical value, factor, etc.

CRITICAL ACCLAIM, noun. (of a dramatic or literary work) Exceptionally good reviews from all or most critics.

CRITICAL ALTITUDE, noun. The altitude at which atmospheric pressure becomes constant as altitude increases

CRITICAL ALTITUDES, noun. Plural of critical altitude

CRITICAL ANGLE, noun. (physics) The smallest angle of incidence for which light is totally reflected from a boundary between one medium and a less refractive one

CRITICAL ANGLE, noun. (aerodynamics) The smallest angle of attack of an airfoil at which lift suddenly decreases and drag suddenly increases

CRITICAL ANGLE, noun. (architecture) The smallest angle of a ramp or stairs considered uncomfortable or unsafe

CRITICAL ANGLES, noun. Plural of critical angle

CRITICAL APPARATUS, noun. The critical and primary source material that accompanies an edition of a text.

CRITICAL CARE, noun. Intensive care

CRITICAL EXPONENT, noun. (math) (comptheory) The greatest number of times that a contiguous subsequence can be repeated.

CRITICAL EXPONENTS, noun. Plural of critical exponent

CRITICAL FUNCTION, noun. (mathematics) Any function, in the calculus of variations, that satisfies the Euler equations

CRITICAL FUNCTIONS, noun. Plural of critical function

CRITICAL INCIDENT STRESS MANAGEMENT, noun. A form of peer and group crisis response used to prevent psychological trauma such as PTSD and depression in first responders and military personnel.

CRITICAL LOAD, noun. (ecology) The maximum load that a given system can sustain before it fails.

CRITICAL LOADS, noun. Plural of critical load

CRITICAL MASS, noun. (physics) the amount of fissile material needed to support a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction

CRITICAL MASS, noun. The tipping point

CRITICAL MASS, proper noun. A direct action event in which bicycle riders travel through city streets as a group.

CRITICAL MASSES, noun. Plural of critical mass

CRITICAL MICELLE CONCENTRATION, noun. (chemistry) The well-defined concentration at which micelles start to form.

CRITICAL OPALESCENCE, noun. (physics) the milky turbidity observed in a fluid as it is slowly cooled to just above its critical point, at which point two clear phases (gas and liquid) form

CRITICAL PATH, noun. (operations) The sequence of dependent steps that determine the minimum time needed to carry out an operation.

CRITICAL PATHS, noun. Plural of critical path

CRITICAL POINT, noun. (thermodynamics) The temperature and pressure at which the vapour density of the gas and liquid phases of a fluid are equal, at which point there is no difference between gas and liquid.

CRITICAL POINT, noun. (mathematics) A maximum, minimum or point of inflection on a curve; a point at which the derivative of a function is zero or undefined.

CRITICAL POINT, noun. A juncture at which time a critical decision must be made.

CRITICAL RATIONALISM, noun. (philosophy) The proposition that scientific theories, and any other claims to knowledge, can and should be rationally criticized, and, if they have empirical content, can and should be subjected to tests which may falsify them.

CRITICAL REYNOLDS NUMBER, noun. (physics) A Reynolds number at which the flow of a fluid changes from laminar to turbulent.

CRITICAL SECTION, noun. (computing) (programming) A piece of code that accesses a shared resource that must not be concurrently accessed by more than one thread of execution.

CRITICAL TEMPERATURE, noun. (physics) The temperature at the critical point of a substance

CRITICAL THEORY, noun. The examination and critique of society and literature, drawing from knowledge across social science and humanities disciplines.

CRITICAL THINKING, noun. The application of logical principles, rigorous standards of evidence, and careful reasoning to the analysis and discussion of claims, beliefs, and issues.

CRITICAL TIDE LEVEL, noun. A zone in which the duration of annual continuous exposure or submergence of intertidal areas changes sharply.

CRITICAL UPDATE, noun. (computing) (Microsoft Windows) A broadly released fix for a specific problem that addresses a critical, non-security-related bug in computer software.

CRITICAL, adjective. Marked by a tendency to find and call attention to errors and flaws; "a critical attitude".

CRITICAL, adjective. At or of a point at which a property or phenomenon suffers an abrupt change especially having enough mass to sustain a chain reaction; "a critical temperature of water is 100 degrees C--its boiling point at standard atmospheric pressure"; "critical mass"; "go critical".

CRITICAL, adjective. Characterized by careful evaluation and judgment; "a critical reading"; "a critical dissertation"; "a critical analysis of Melville's writings".

CRITICAL, adjective. Urgently needed; absolutely necessary; "a critical element of the plan"; "critical medical supplies"; "vital for a healthy society"; "of vital interest".

CRITICAL, adjective. Forming or having the nature of a turning point or crisis; "a critical point in the campaign"; "the critical test".

CRITICAL, adjective. Being in or verging on a state of crisis or emergency; "a critical shortage of food"; "a critical illness"; "an illness at the critical stage".

CRITICAL, adjective. Of or involving or characteristic of critics or criticism; "critical acclaim".