crucial

English

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. Specific quote is:

Inter praerogativas instantiarum, ponemus loco decimo quarto Instantias Crucis; translato vocabulo a Crucibus, quae erectae in biviis indicant et signant viarum separationes.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈkruː.ʃəl/
• Rhymes: -uːʃəl

Adjective

crucial (comparative more crucial, superlative most crucial)

1. Being essential or decisive for determining the outcome or future of something; extremely important.

   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.

2. (archaic) Cruciform or cruciate; cross-shaped.
3. (slang, chiefly Jamaica) Term of approval, particularly when applied to reggae music.

   Delbert Wilkins is the most crucial pirate radio DJ in Brixton.

Derived terms

• crucial experiment

Related terms

• cross
• crux

Translations

extremely important

• Arabic: حاسم (ar) (hassim)
• Bulgarian: решителен (bg) (rešitelen), критичен (bg) (kritičen)
• Czech: rozhodující (cs), kritický (cs)
• Danish: afgørende (da)
• Finnish: ratkaiseva (fi), elintärkeä (fi)
• German: entscheidend (de), kritisch (de), ausschlaggebend (de), wichtig (de)
• Hebrew: מכריע (he) (makhria) m (crucial for determining the future), חיוני (he) (khiuny) m (crucial for existence or welfare)

• Italian: cruciale (it)
• Polish: krytyczny
• Portuguese: crucial (pt)
• Romanian: crucial (ro), decisiv (ro)
• Russian: решающий (ru) (rešajuščij), ключевой (ru) (ključevoj)
• Scottish Gaelic: deatamach (gd)
• Spanish: crucial (es)
• Swedish: avgörande (sv)

cross-shaped

• Bulgarian: кръстовиден (bg) (krǎstoviden)
• Finnish: ristinmuotoinen (fi)
• German: kreuzförmig (de)
• Italian: cruciforme (it)

• Persian: حیاتی (fa)
• Portuguese: crucial (pt)
• Romanian: cruciform (ro)
• Russian: крестообразный (ru) (krestoobraznyj)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: crucial (fr)

---

French

Etymology

From a root of Latin crux.

Adjective

crucial m (feminine cruciale, masculine plural cruciaux, feminine plural cruciales)

1. cruciform
2. crucial, critical, vital

---

Portuguese

Adjective

crucial m and f (plural cruciais; comparable)

1. crucial

---

Spanish

Etymology

From English crucial.

Adjective

crucial m and f (plural cruciales)

1. crucial