Etymology
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.[1]
Adjective
crucial (comparative more crucial, superlative most crucial)
- Essential or decisive for determining the outcome or future of something; extremely important; vital.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:important
- Antonyms: noncrucial, Thesaurus:important § Antonyms
The battle of Tali-Ihantala in 1944 is one of the crucial moments in the history of Finland.
A secure supply of crude oil is crucial for any modern nation, let alone a superpower.
2018, Clarence Green, James Lambert, “Advancing disciplinary literacy through English for academic purposes: Discipline-specific wordlists, collocations and word families for eight secondary subjects”, in Journal of English for Academic Purposes, volume 35, →DOI, page 106:Vocabulary provides a foundation from which grammar, phonology, and morphology emerge, and in a subject area it provides access to conceptual knowledge. Vocabulary selection for pedagogical purposes is therefore crucial.
2021 October 1, A Falun Dafa practitioner in France, “Using Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to Guide My Young Students”, in Minghui:Language is crucial because it is the best weapon against violence. When children don’t have the words to express their thoughts, they raise their fists.
- (archaic) Cruciform or cruciate; cross-shaped.
- Synonym: noncruciform
- (slang, especially Jamaica, Bermuda) Very good; excellent; particularly applied to reggae music.
Delbert Wilkins is the most crucial pirate radio DJ in Brixton.
Translations
extremely important
- Arabic: حَاسِم (ḥāsim)
- Bulgarian: решителен (bg) (rešitelen), критичен (bg) (kritičen)
- Catalan: crucial (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 至关重要的 (zhì guān zhòngyào de)
- Cornish: troboyntel
- Czech: rozhodující (cs), kritický (cs)
- Danish: afgørende
- Finnish: ratkaiseva (fi), elintärkeä
- French: crucial (fr)
- German: entscheidend (de), kritisch (de), ausschlaggebend (de), wichtig (de)
- Greek: κρίσιμος (el) (krísimos)
- Hebrew: מכריע (makhria) (crucial for determining the future), חיוני (he) (khiuny) (crucial for existence or welfare)
- Hungarian: sarkalatos (hu)
- Italian: cruciale (it)
- Maori: waiwai
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: avgjørende (no)
- Polish: krytyczny (pl)
- Portuguese: crucial (pt)
- Romanian: crucial (ro), decisiv (ro)
- Russian: реша́ющий (ru) (rešájuščij), ключево́й (ru) (ključevój)
- Scottish Gaelic: deatamach
- Spanish: crucial
- Swedish: avgörande (sv)
- Ukrainian: виріша́льний (vyrišálʹnyj), крити́чний (krytýčnyj)
- Welsh: allweddol (cy)
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References
Francis Bacon (1620) Novum Organum [New Organon] (in Latin), volume Two, section XXXVI: “Inter praerogativas instantiarum, ponemus loco decimo quarto Instantias Crucis; translato vocabulo a Crucibus, quae erectae in biviis indicant et signant viarum separationes.”