inclined to find fault or to judge with severity, often too readily: parents who are too critical.
occupied with or skilled in criticism: one of the great critical journalists.
involving skillful judgment as to truth, merit, etc.; judicial: a critical analysis.
of or relating 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: upgraded from critical to stable.
Physics.
pertaining to a state, value, or quantity at which one or more properties of a substance or system undergo a change: the critical temperature of benzene.
(of fissionable material) having enough mass to sustain a chain reaction: They told us about a lab where some plutonium went critical.
Being or relating to a grave physical condition especially of a patient.
Of or relating to the value of a measurement, such as temperature, at which an abrupt change in a chemical of physical quality, property, or state occurs.