| Main Entry: | critical |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | fault-finding, detracting |
Synonyms: |
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 |
Antonyms: |
complimentary, laudatory, praising |
| Main Entry: | critical |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | urgently important |
Synonyms: |
acute, all-important, climacteric, conclusive, consequential, crucial, dangerous, deciding, decisive, desperate, determinative, dire, exceptive, grave, hairy*, hazardous, high-priority, integral, momentous, perilous, pivotal, precarious, pressing, risky, serious, significant, strategic, urgent, vital, weighty |
Antonyms: |
trivial, uncritical, unimportant |
| Main Entry: | acute |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | very important |
Synonyms: |
afflictive, critical, crucial, dangerous, decisive, desperate, dire, essential, grave, serious, severe, sudden, urgent, vital |
| Notes: | acute is used for a sudden onset and short duration; chronic is for conditions that are slow to develop and of long duration acute is an angle of less than 90 degrees; obtuse is one of more than 90 degrees chronic is contrasted with acute as chronic pain persists over a longer period of time than acute pain and is resistant to most medical treatments |
Antonyms: |
not serious, unimportant |
| Main Entry: | big league |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | important |
Synonyms: |
big-time, chief, critical, crucial, exceptional, four-star, front-page, grave, great, heavy, high-power, major-league, playing hard ball, professional, serious, strictly business |
| Main Entry: | burning |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | important |
Synonyms: |
acute, clamant, clamorous, compelling, critical, crucial, crying, dire, essential, exigent, imperative, importunate, instant, pressing, significant, urgent, vital |
Antonyms: |
unimportant |
| Main Entry: | cantankerous |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | difficult, crabby |
Synonyms: |
bad-tempered, bearish, captious, choleric, contrary, cranky, critical, cross, crotchety, crusty, disagreeable, dour, grouchy, grumpy*, huffy, ill-humored, ill-natured, irascible, irritable, morose, obstinate, ornery*, peevish, perverse, petulant, prickly, quarrelsome, snappish, sour, stuffy, testy, vinegarish, vinegary |
Antonyms: |
easy, good-natured, happy, nice, pleasant |
| Main Entry: | carping |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | complaining |
Synonyms: |
bellyaching, caviling, censorious, critical, criticizing, deprecatory, disparaging, fault-finding, griping, grouchy, grousing, grumbling, hypercritical, kvetching, moaning, nagging, niggling, nit-picking, overcritical, quibbling, scathing, whining |
Antonyms: |
complimentary, forgiving |
| Main Entry: | censorious |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | very critical |
Synonyms: |
accusatory, captious, carping, caviling, cavillous, chiding, complaining, condemnatory, condemning, critical, culpatory, denouncing, disapproving, disparaging, fault-finding, hypercritical, overcritical, reprehending, reproaching, severe |
Antonyms: |
complimentary, encouraging, flattering, laudatory, praising |
| Main Entry: | climactic/climacteric |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | decisive |
Synonyms: |
acute, climactical, critical, crucial, desperate, dire, paramount, peak |
Antonyms: |
anticlimacteric, anticlimactic, bathetic, indecisive, trivial, undecided |
| Main Entry: | dangerous |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | hazardous, troubling |
Synonyms: |
alarming, bad, breakneck, chancy, critical, dangersome, deadly, delicate, dynamite, exposed, fatal, formidable, hairy*, heavy*, hot*, impending, impregnable, insecure, jeopardous, loaded, malignant, menacing, mortal, nasty, on collision course, parlous, perilous, portentous, precarious, pressing, queasy, risky, serious, serpentine, shaky, speculative, terrible, thorny, threatening, ticklish, touch-and-go, touchy, treacherous, ugly*, unhealthy, unsafe, unstable, urgent, viperous, vulnerable, wicked |
Antonyms: |
careful, guarded, safe, secure, unhazardous, untroubled |