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

occupied with or skilled in criticism.

involving skillful judgment as to truth, merit, etc.; judicial

a critical analysis.

of or pertaining to critics or criticism

critical essays.

providing textual variants, proposed emendations, etc.

a critical edition of Chaucer.

pertaining to or of the nature of a crisis

a critical shortage of food.

of decisive importance with respect to the outcome; crucial

a critical moment.

of essential importance; indispensable

a critical ingredient.

Medicine/Medical . (of a patient's condition) having unstable and abnormal vital signs and other unfavorable indicators, as loss of appetite, poor mobility, or unconsciousness.

Physics .

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

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

adjective

complimentary , laudatory , praising , trivial , uncritical , unimportant

adjective

analytical , belittling , biting , calumniatory , captious , carping , caviling , cavillous , censorious , censuring , choleric , condemning , critic , cutting , cynical , demanding , demeaning , derogatory , diagnostic , disapproving , discerning , discriminating , disparaging , exacting , exceptive , finicky , fussy , hairsplitting , humbling , hypercritical , lowering , nagging , niggling , nit-picking , overcritical , particular , penetrating , reproachful , sarcastic , satirical , scolding , severe , sharp , trenchant , withering , acute , all-important , climacteric , conclusive , consequential , crucial , dangerous , deciding , decisive , desperate , determinative , dire , grave , hairy * , hazardous , high-priority , integral , momentous , perilous , pivotal , precarious , pressing , risky , serious , significant , strategic , urgent , vital , weighty , faultfinding , exact , fastidious , judgmental , zoilean