Added 9 October 2026
crucial
/ˈkɹuː.ʃəl/ adjective
Latin root: crux Wiktionary
adjective Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about crucial at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
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Essential or decisive for determining the outcome or future of something; extremely important; vital.
The battle of Tali-Ihantala in 1944 is one of the crucial moments in the history of Finland.
- Cruciform or cruciate; cross-shaped.
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Very good; excellent; particularly applied to reggae music.
Delbert Wilkins is the most crucial pirate radio DJ in Brixton.
Origin
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.
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)