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critical
in a sentence
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  • The legislation funds critical infrastructure.
    critical = important
  • It was a critical factor in my decision.
  • She plays a critical role in the administration.
  • Ants play a critical role in the ecosystem.
  • Later the doctors would speculate that when Dad, Luke and Benjamin had wrestled Shawn to the ground—and he'd sustained a concussion—he was already in critical condition.   (source)
    critical = serious or dangerous
  • Having left USC a few credits short, he had no college degree, a critical asset in a job market glutted with veterans and former war production workers.   (source)
    critical = important
  • He was in critical condition.   (source)
    critical = serious or dangerous
  • ...and they wanted to protect us at this critical stage in my recovery.   (source)
    critical = important
  • I look more critically at the design on Peeta's arm.   (source)
    critically = seriously
  •   "Clappers!" he screams.
      In an instant the word is out.
      ClappersClappersClappers . . .
      It echoes in the kids around them. In an instant it reaches critical mass, and the entire crowd is in full-blown panic.   (source)
    critical = important (resulting in something)
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  • The situation was critical.   (source)
    critical = highly important
  • PROCTOR—he knows this is critical, and is striving against his disgust with Hale and with himself for even answering:   (source)
    critical = important
  • At any rate, they remembered that at the critical moment of the battle Snowball had turned to flee.   (source)
  • He knew that it had been cannibalized, and he hoped that critical parts weren't missing.   (source)
  • In critical ways, she was engaged to a stranger.   (source)
  • The critical moment came when inspection was called.   (source)
    critical = dangerous or important
  • Louie soon learned a critical rule of conversation: Never use a guard's real name.   (source)
    critical = important
  • The critical question regarded provisions.   (source)
  • One by one, they landed, all critically low on fuel, one with a dead engine.   (source)
    critically = seriously or dangerously
  • He was in critical condition.   (source)
    critical = serious or dangerous
  • I was on the way back to critical care after another CT scan, and flitted between consciousness and sleep until I woke properly.   (source)
    critical = serious or endangered
  • I have almost no memory of him until five years later, when I am fifteen, and he bursts into my life at a critical moment.   (source)
    critical = important
  • All those deadlines they'd given at the beginning—when they said the next twenty-four hours were dangerous, forty-eight were crucial, seventy-two were critical—had passed without incident.   (source)
  • Half her work in the UK was moving critically ill children, the other half was treating them in intensive care.   (source)
    critically = seriously
  • Naoetsu was a factory village that generated products critical to the war effort, and all of its young workers had gone to war.   (source)
    critical = important
  • It was a critical piece of information; because a dead engine's propeller continues turning in the wind, it can look just like a running engine.   (source)
  • The plane was so clumsy that it was difficult to fly in the tight formations that were critical to fending off attack.   (source)
  • In July, the scuttlebutt in camp was that the Americans were attacking the critical island of Saipan, in the Mariana Islands, south of mainland Japan.   (source)
  • With communism wicking across the Far East, America's leaders began to see a future alliance with Japan as critical to national security.   (source)
  • In creating the dictionary, Harris may have had more in mind than translating stolen documents; if he ever escaped from Ofuna, the Japanese translations of words like "compass," "seacoast," and "ashore" might be critical to know.   (source)
  • The plot was for Snowball, at the critical moment, to give the signal for flight and leave the field to the enemy.   (source)
  • The animals lashed ropes round these, and then all together, cows, horses, sheep, any animal that could lay hold of the rope — even the pigs sometimes joined in at critical moments — they dragged them with desperate slowness up the slope to the top of the quarry, where they were toppled over the edge, to shatter to pieces below.   (source)
  • It will send the linguists back to India with their tape recorders, because it undermines the critical superstructure of their methodology.   (source)
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  • The comment prompted a twiterstorm of criticism.
    criticism = description of faults
  • She is very critical of the administration.
    critical = tends to find fault
  • It's not a criticism.   (source)
    criticism = pointing to a fault
  • Mom said that anyone critical of her driving could help with the task.   (source)
    critical = expressing unfavorable opinions
  • Is there something you want, or are you just an art critic today?   (source)
    critic = someone who finds fault and tells others
  • The most strident criticism came in the form of a dense, multipage epistle from Ambler, a tiny Inupiat village on the Kobuk River north of the Arctic Circle.   (source)
    criticism = act of finding fault and telling others
  • Sal, you're becoming very critical.   (source)
    critical = expressing unfavorable opinions
  • Criticism of Laura was reserved for me.   (source)
    criticism = sharing an unfavorable opinion
  • Of the three of us, Margot would be the most critical.   (source)
    critical = with a tendency to find fault
  • People like Mr. Heck Tate did not trap you with innocent questions to make fun of you; even Jem was not highly critical unless you said something stupid.   (source)
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  • Her husband and his family were already becoming highly critical of such a woman and were not unduly perturbed when they found she had fled to join the Christians.   (source)
    critical = finding fault and telling others; or tending to have unfavorable opinions
  • I'm my best and harshest critic.   (source)
    critic = someone who finds fault and tells others
  • Philip Lombard said critically: "It's a bit shut in… I like open country myself. Where you can see what's coming…"   (source)
    critically = in a manner that finds fault
  • His coming, however, had been a certain comfort to us, since it assured us that we should not have to dread hostile criticism as to any of our acts.   (source)
    criticism = sharing of unfavorable opinions
  • All were characterised by the sternness and severity which old portraits so invariably put on, as if they were the ghosts, rather than the pictures, of departed worthies, and were gazing with harsh and intolerant criticism at the pursuits and enjoyments of living men.   (source)
    criticism = pointing to a fault
  • "Yes," he said with a smile, though unsure from her businesslike tone whether he should take the remark as a compliment or criticism….†   (source)
  • Criticism was mounting.†   (source)
  • Stung by the criticism, a group of concerned citizens began in the 1950s to restore Savannah's downtown.†   (source)
  • I was off the farm, out from under the criticism.†   (source)
  • Owen responded crossly to any criticism.†   (source)
  • Criticism from the church was nothing new for CERN.†   (source)
  • Something had been established which Emily took to be a criticism of herself.†   (source)
  • She hadn't realized how much of a toll the years of judgment and criticism, implied and expressed, have taken on her.†   (source)
  • I look forward to going to school most days because it gives me time away from all of his criticism.†   (source)
  • And no answer I could give could help sounding like criticism of her.†   (source)
  • Especially because this time if we lose there won't be any criticism of us at all.†   (source)
  • This seemed like a fair criticism.†   (source)
  • "I don't think so, Grandma, because they would have to take so much criticism from their friends and families."†   (source)
  • This was mostly because he didn't believe in grades or criticism, and was a strong proponent of coed massage as a way of getting in touch with your artistic spirit.†   (source)
  • "The criticism now," he wrote, "is that the structures are unnecessarily strong."†   (source)
  • Social criticism is the outcome of this subversive strategy, flight the device by which Carter sets up her ironic notions of freedom and imprisonment.†   (source)
  • She was a few hundred posts behind, and she made her way through, replying to seventy or so messages, RSVPing to eleven events on campus, signing nine petitions, and providing comments and constructive criticism on four products currently in beta.†   (source)
  • The criticism has, for the most part, been quite personal.†   (source)
  • Dad was too sensitive to criticism, Mom said.†   (source)
  • The judge got both heavy criticism and loud support in the press, but I think he couldn't have cared less.†   (source)
  • We suffer enough from unfair criticism.†   (source)
  • He's antisocial, doesn't like the way the agency is run and reserves his worst criticism for the people in charge.†   (source)
  • And then he'd add, "although the word derivative as a criticism is itself derivative."†   (source)
  • She detested the rosary at dusk, the affected table etiquette, the constant criticism of the way she held her silverware, the way she walked in mystical strides like a woman of the streets, the way she dressed as if she were in the circus, and even the rustic way she treated her husband and nursed her child without covering her breast with her mantilla.†   (source)
  • "Oh," Glass said, biting back a criticism.†   (source)
  • The Reverend Mother stared at him, wondering: Did I hear criticism in his voice?†   (source)
  • The second phase emerged as a result of normal intellectual criticism of his lack of definition of what he was talking about.†   (source)
  • In relief at the narrow escape, they vent their emotions in impatience and criticism of the unlucky cripple.†   (source)
  • Therefore, any criticism of him amounted to an assault on the already downtrodden people he served.†   (source)
  • Korogi stops to think again about what she has just said and, as if in self-criticism, gently shakes her head.†   (source)
  • As someone who's above criticism both in and out of the courtroom.†   (source)
  • It makes me think I've been overcritical of our relationship.†   (source)
  • Aristotelian literary criticism?†   (source)
  • I find his eyes, and for once, there's no criticism there, only a fierce pride.†   (source)
  • That's not an unreasonable criticism.†   (source)
  • It was a clever bit of psychological manipulation; while ostensibly a criticism, the line contained the implication that the Fugees themselves were special.†   (source)
  • "It's hard not to see this as criticism."†   (source)
  • Typical of the criticism is what Alfred Sewell wrote in his book The Great Calamity.†   (source)
  • Yet contempt is qualitatively different from criticism.†   (source)
  • Pea took the criticism lightly.†   (source)
  • Criticism of Pollard is unjust.†   (source)
  • But all I got was criticism and dirty looks.†   (source)
  • Mortenson had heard the criticism of the woman who lay on a cot before him ratchet up in the years before her death.†   (source)
  • We shared a taste for honest criticism in our fiction workshop and a respect for Tobias Wolff and Raymond Carver.†   (source)
  • And now, bending her cheek next to Claudia's cheek, she laughed to soften her criticism; and Celeste laughed, and Santiago laughed, and the whole room seemed alive with unearthly tinkling laughter, preternatural voices echoing against the painted walls, rippling the feeble candle flames.†   (source)
  • They watched with undisguised hostility when Alba went upstairs holding Miguel's hand, and it was a torture for her to overcome her timidity and face the criticism of those stares that ruined the joy of her meetings with Miguel.†   (source)
  • He can't take criticism and he won't listen to advice.†   (source)
  • "One false move and Marlin gets it," Fleming says at one point, putting his finger against the head of one boy in the midst of some elaborate criticism.†   (source)
  • "If you ever offered more than simple criticism," Emma said, "if you ever gave a single useful suggestion during a crisis, rather than just shrugging your shoulders at the prospect of failure and death, I might be able to tolerate your unrelenting black moods!†   (source)
  • Scientific criticism, ah!†   (source)
  • What's your criticism?†   (source)
  • We're responding, but like I told dispatch, there've been some pretty wild parties out here, no criticism intended, sir.†   (source)
  • Words intended as motherly guidance seemed increasingly doomed to be taken as criticism.†   (source)
  • President Kennedy was initially nervous about Jackie's restoration, fearing that she would come under the same sharp criticism as Truman.†   (source)
  • Just as they face criticism and rejection.†   (source)
  • They also rejected what they considered false criticism.†   (source)
  • The standard comment on visitors' books today about "constructive criticism" dates from this period.†   (source)
  • He smiled half bitterly and said, "I see that the war has done wonders for art criticism.†   (source)
  • Two farmers, whose landholdings were small when compared to the great areas controlled by some of the Virginia slaveholders, were outspoken in their criticism of the institution of slavery.†   (source)
  • Without question, without criticism ….†   (source)
  • It's meant as a criticism and I take it as one.†   (source)
  • Criticism Extremely Harsh†   (source)
  • Bruenor had explained that he would be gone for a few days, and at first Wulfgar was happy for the relief from the dwarf's constant grumbling and criticism.†   (source)
  • It is one thing to think that psychology may solve problems that baffle philosophy or criticism; it well may.†   (source)
  • It was a jest, but Sansa took it for criticism.†   (source)
  • You could come out of it looking like a hero, and believe me, you won't hear a bit of criticism out of me.†   (source)
  • What was weak was self-criticism.†   (source)
  • Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas.†   (source)
  • I felt her sight warm each of my bony elbows, and I flopped about in my fake sleep to hide them from her criticism.†   (source)
  • No criticism-only a matter of taste.†   (source)
  • Not until he had made his remark did George realize that it also implied a criticism of Rashaverak.†   (source)
  • I'm breaking my promise about no criticism."†   (source)
  • The function of criticism should not be confused with the function of reform.†   (source)
  • He always acknowledged criticism, and he often anticipated it.†   (source)
  • In the first stage it's the triumph of reason, of the spirit of criticism, the fight against prejudice and so on.†   (source)
  • "No, Mary said, with slight defensiveness, for she felt somehow that criticism might be involved; and hadn't expected to unless, of course … "Of course, Hannah replied quickly (for she had intended no criticism), "so no doubt we needn't worry.†   (source)
  • Lamar loved Mississippi, and its criticism depressed him deeply.†   (source)
  • In response to bitter criticism and loud laughter, Commissioner Crabbe gave an exclusive press interview in which he revealed that Police Laboratories had discovered a new investigation technique which would break the D'Courtney Case within 24 hours.†   (source)
  • But she was still able to walk from the room, silent in wordless criticism.†   (source)
  • He had only one criticism, he said, to make of Mr. Pilkington's excellent and neighborly speech.   (source)
    criticism = unfavorable opinion to share
  • She hated the Party, and said so in the crudest words, but she made no general criticism of it.   (source)
    criticism = sharing an unfavorable opinion
  • I had heard some story of her too, a critical, unpleasant story, but what it was I had forgotten long ago.   (source)
    critical = unfavorable (pointing to a fault)
  • I've heard it said that Daisy's murmur was only to make people lean toward her; an irrelevant criticism that made it no less charming.   (source)
    criticism = sharing an unfavorable opinion
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  • The film received critical and commercial success.
    critical = relating to expert judgement
  • She holds up her drawing, eyeing it critically.   (source)
    critically = in a manner that thoughtfully judges what is good and bad about something
  • No wonder books stopped selling, the critics said.   (source)
    critics = people whose job is to share expert judgement
  • The teachers were amused and entertained by my clever answers, my witty remarks, my charming face and my critical mind.   (source)
    critical = demonstrating thoughtful judgement
  • My ears to an orchestra conductor. My stomach to a food critic.   (source)
    critic = someone whose job is to share expert judgement
  • Some critics have even drawn parallels between McCandless and the Arctic's most infamous tragic figure, Sir John Franklin, a nineteenth-century British naval officer whose smugness and hauteur contributed to some 140 deaths, including his own.   (source)
    critics = people who share expert judgement
  • It was quite a small book, after all, and hardly best-seller material; and although well received in critical circles in New York and London, it didn't make much of a splash up here, not initially.   (source)
    critical = relating to people whose job is to share expert judgement
  • Attentive critics of courthouse business, Atticus said they knew as much law as the Chief Justice, from long years of observation.   (source)
    critics = people who share expert judgement
  • He looked critically at Ralph's golden body and then down at his own clothes.   (source)
    critically = in a manner that thoughtfully judges what is good and bad about something
  • The Professor watched me critically.   (source)
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  • I did not, like him, attempt a critical knowledge of their dialects, for I did not contemplate making any other use of them than temporary amusement.   (source)
    critical = using careful analysis
  • Holding his breath he cocked a critical ear at the sounds of the island.   (source)
    critical = relating to judgement of what is important
  • Ralph looked at him critically through his tangle of fair hair.   (source)
    critically = in a manner that thoughtfully judges what is good and bad about something
  • I've changed quite drastically, everything about me is different: my opinions, ideas, critical outlook.   (source)
    critical = thoughtful judgement
  • Ralph looked at the sun critically.   (source)
    critically = in a manner that thoughtfully judges what is good and bad about something
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show 10 more examples with any meaning
  • The sixteen minutes and forty-two seconds are critical!†   (source)
  • Two of them were in need of critical care, beyond what we could provide.†   (source)
  • In the meantime, the Count could only cross his fingers that a Scandinavian man would be residing in the hotel at the critical juncture.†   (source)
  • To Mamaw, Dad was the "sperm donor" who had abandoned me at a critical juncture.†   (source)
  • Lotte examined herself critically in the mirror late that Friday afternoon.†   (source)
  • Then again, my high-waters and medium-size suit jacket didn't exactly qualify me as a fashion critic.†   (source)
  • The waiter looked at me critically and said, "Fresh off the boat, are you?"†   (source)
  • Then he announces, "The two teams with the highest scores from all preliminary rounds will meet for what we call a 'quiz-off,' so point totals are critical.†   (source)
  • The first hour was critical.†   (source)
  • Victim services and outreach became critical components of the prosecutorial function.†   (source)
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show 190 more examples with any meaning
  • Ministry refuses to confirm rumors of critical illness…… "They're making it sound like he's dying," said Harry slowly.†   (source)
  • Adler was critical of Jim Williams's "decadent" life-style, but he was just curious enough about it to get out his binoculars and spy on one of Williams's all-male Christmas parties.†   (source)
  • She studied the sphere critically.†   (source)
  • Time for some feedback from Nate Wright, Art Critic.†   (source)
  • Grant came over, and peered critically at the creature.†   (source)
  • I spent most of my time focused on the critical task of finding food.†   (source)
  • "Yes and no. He doesn't feel critical, and he wants to be our friend, but he wouldn't do things our way, and he probably wouldn't have us do things our way, truth to tell."†   (source)
  • Owen was also critical of Tarzan movies.†   (source)
  • Luis and Tino were hot and tired, but I was more like in critical condition.†   (source)
  • The attacks relied on this critical adaptation.†   (source)
  • It is critical to recovery.†   (source)
  • He must have made comments critical of Chairman Mao and the Cultural Revolution.†   (source)
  • Cecilia followed at a slow pace, passing the critical mirror with a glance and completely satisfied with what she saw.†   (source)
  • The array was mission-critical.†   (source)
  • I tried to anticipate what criticisms she would have.†   (source)
  • "That crackhead you beat up is critically injured," a policeman told them when they arrived at the station.†   (source)
  • Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Violet was upstairs, surveying her bedroom with a critical eye.†   (source)
  • Articles and reviews published in Der Spiegel, Critical Inquiry.†   (source)
  • She could not disturb Tita and Pedro in any way at this time, perhaps the most critical moment of their lives.†   (source)
  • Next, consider the structure of the critical sentence.†   (source)
  • He studied her critically.†   (source)
  • I want to be our nation's greatest female film critic.†   (source)
  • Under the Indian's critical eye, Matt shaved down the branch, paring off the thinnest possible shavings.†   (source)
  • His mom looked over at Park, but not for long; Tina's hair was at a critical stage.†   (source)
  • Carrie stopped me on the stairs, looked at me critically, then took my arm and led me back down and out to her cabin.†   (source)
  • Just before I graduated, my professor, who happened to also be the critic for the paper, told me I had a lot of talent.†   (source)
  • "The Most Critical Time on This Earth Is Now" When Deborah was a junior in high school, at the age of sixteen, she got pregnant with her first child.†   (source)
  • She looked at me critically.†   (source)
  • He was critically ill.†   (source)
  • It's critical that I get paired with someone good.†   (source)
  • Situation critical topside.†   (source)
  • Blending in is critical.†   (source)
  • He's on his feet in a blink and begins assessing the room critically.†   (source)
  • Critical condition.†   (source)
  • It lightened some of the pain I felt for all those who were critical of our going to Central.†   (source)
  • Eragon looked critically at their handiwork.†   (source)
  • Operational security—OpSec, to use yet another military term—was critical.†   (source)
  • My best friend was a white guy about sixty years old named Ernie Santosuosso who was the Globe jazz critic then.†   (source)
  • My soup soon is at a critical stage.†   (source)
  • Critical biographies.†   (source)
  • Her voice held all the shock and condemnation of the small town, I thought critically.†   (source)
  • "So what'd you think?" he asked Leigh Anne, not actually expecting her to have a critical thought.†   (source)
  • And we all had to learn by heart the four critical rules: 1.†   (source)
  • Critical or otherwise.†   (source)
  • Distances are almost critically relative.†   (source)
  • At this critical moment, when they needed to escape Maryland as quickly as possible, they did something unexplainable — they did nothing!†   (source)
  • It was critical that he go to New York.†   (source)
  • Critics speak of this dialogue as intertextuality, the ongoing interaction between poems or stories.†   (source)
  • The task is herculean, but once we have a critical mass, and with facial recognition advances, we can, we hope, identify pretty much everyone in every photo and every video.†   (source)
  • If I seem—abrupt, critical—it is only for your sake.†   (source)
  • Maybe it was the new dress that made me look more critically at myself than usual: 45 years old, unmarried, waistline long since vanished.†   (source)
  • Had we already passed the critical dimension for our new propellant?†   (source)
  • He was there at the critical time-a silent, watchful presence.†   (source)
  • Reason crashed at a critical juncture, and he ate a harpoon.†   (source)
  • A critical violation is one likely to cause serious contamination and to harm consumers.†   (source)
  • On TV, patients are always critical, or stable.†   (source)
  • Miguel remained in critical condition.†   (source)
  • I was late bringing him lunch, and he turned his head to me from his recliner and remarked, with the gentlest critical tone, that I was genetically programmed to not be punctual.†   (source)
  • Up close, Jane could tell that Miss Milhouse's criticisms of the working girls' clothes had been all too accurate.†   (source)
  • Heinrich stood in a corner of the room, taking up his critical-observer position.†   (source)
  • The Magpie stepped back and looked critically at Meggie.†   (source)
  • She looked a little critically at her round, heavy behind.†   (source)
  • Circumstances had placed the twins in his care, and he was determined that no harm should come to them, especially now that he believed they were destined to play a critical role in the war against the Dark Elders.†   (source)
  • For it is, in practice, simply not possible to adopt such a critical attitude towards an employer and at the same time provide good service.†   (source)
  • If my life were a movie, this scene of me and Dylan would get slammed by critics for over-the-top foreshadowing.†   (source)
  • He had graduated from the conservatory and the university faculty of law at the same time, but he was extremely self-critical and had come to the conclusion that he would never be a really top-ranking pianist, so he had entered the law instead; only during the war did he become a pianist again.†   (source)
  • He looked the horse over critically.†   (source)
  • In Los Angeles, one of the victims was beaten in a tunnel and is in critical condition, and I'm certain it's Nathaniel.†   (source)
  • His blue eyes, usually so thoughtful, are now hard and critical, like they are peeling back layer after layer of me and searching each one.†   (source)
  • The critical care unit of Beth Israel hospital always reminded Clary of photos she'd seen of Antarctica: It was cold and remote-feeling, and everything was either gray, white, or pale blue.†   (source)
  • Lorenzo Daza did not come home before ten o'clock at night, which was the curfew hour during the less critical periods of the wars.†   (source)
  • Luke surveyed her critically.†   (source)
  • This first moment was the critical one.†   (source)
  • I nodded, exhaling deeply, suddenly aware that I'd been holding my breath during those last critical moments.†   (source)
  • The critical bolts are all tight enough.†   (source)
  • The list of instructions I prepared for her couldn't have been more painstakingly detailed were we leaving a critically ill infant in her care.†   (source)
  • First he is very critical of everything we can understand.†   (source)
  • The critics had called the result "engaging" and "good, spooky fun," except for the ones who'd deemed it "preposterous" and "convoluted."†   (source)
  • I dared not get too critical.†   (source)
  • Daddy, even in a critical moment, wouldn't say "By who?"†   (source)
  • I felt that Farmer was suspending his usually sharp critical judgment.†   (source)
  • This was the next critical moment.†   (source)
  • The reason for the soliloquy here is that Morgenstern's previous book had gotten bombed by the critics and also hadn't sold beans.†   (source)
  • She gave me a critical once-over.†   (source)
  • Only he's so critical.†   (source)
  • It just didn't feel right-as if some critical mass were missing, and they were likely to be split apart like an atom under pressure.†   (source)
  • The constitution strove to dictate all of the critical details of an individual's life, even the most private concerns of womanhood.†   (source)
  • You're so critical.†   (source)
  • Mrs. Scott put on her coat and looked critically at her bareheaded daughter.†   (source)
  • Critics hate his coincidences.†   (source)
  • A critical issue was the education of Zeni and Zindzi.†   (source)
  • It's critical that she think it's her idea.†   (source)
  • I got the E. It's critical'pure MDMA, the real deal.†   (source)
  • He was critically injured, suffering broken ribs and severe internal hemorrhaging.†   (source)
  • She was the visiting critic-in-residence.†   (source)
  • It was with these strangers that he practiced his fledgling English, away from Eulalio's gleeful criticisms.†   (source)
  • Critics worry that school choice will leave behind the worst students in the worst schools.†   (source)
  • More critical is that it kept fire companies located near De Koven Street in their stations.†   (source)
  • In the United States mandatory minimum sentencing was a critical part of the late-twentieth-century "War on Drugs."†   (source)
  • At critical moments he occasionally closed his eyes.†   (source)
  • "Critical," Tait replied.†   (source)
  • He took his time about it, giving the animals a critical inspection as he went past.†   (source)
  • It's difficult to avoid the conclusion that the critical factor for saving mothers is access to doctors in an emergency.†   (source)
  • It was critical to know.†   (source)
  • His influence was as critical as Brother Ron's, maybe even more.†   (source)
  • You realize that people may be very critical of you — right, Gaby?†   (source)
  • That's placed in the center of the pit and is obviously a critical part of the design."†   (source)
  • He was most worried about his friend who was in surgery and in critical condition, lucky to be alive.†   (source)
  • As the Lakeview Models it is critical that you present the best possible image to the community.†   (source)
  • He said this was a critical matter.†   (source)
  • Abdul glanced at him critically, then nodded with approval.†   (source)
  • It was a critical oversight.†   (source)
  • It was critical that the barbarians not take Iwo Jima.†   (source)
  • THE SITUATION VERGED ON CRITICAL The next Saturday I put Life as We Don't Know It into my backpack and took the subway up to Columbia University.†   (source)
  • This, from a contemporary critic's commentary on Madame Butterfly: "Pinkerton suffers from …. being an obnoxious bounder whom every man in the audience itches to kick."†   (source)
  • If not, the critic in me cries, "Fake!"†   (source)
  • In searches like this, the first six hours were critical.†   (source)
  • He rested a moment in critical rumination.†   (source)
  • "There are things I need…… " That woman had been critical of me for so long.†   (source)
  • She made a critical error.†   (source)
  • Around here, nothing is exempt from dissembling questions and critical examination-not even religion itself.†   (source)
  • The Pritchards with their cold, critical eyes were too much for me.†   (source)
  • An art critic standing next to him said he thought of Stendhal as daytime reading.†   (source)
  • I glance up at her, then reach for a black top and look at it critically.†   (source)
  • "He is 'critically ill' from what, Thomas?"†   (source)
  • Timing was now critical.†   (source)
  • After I was done memorizing the text and the commentaries, I began to go over the text again critically.†   (source)
  • "Well, let's look at your birth certificate," Charley said, as if he had finally arrived at a critical moment.†   (source)
  • From the sideline, Cesar thought it incomprehensible that his pitcher and catcher found anything to laugh about at this critical juncture of the game, but they were.†   (source)
  • The first volume of This I Believe achieved critical acclaim and was a national bestseller, unusual for a collection of essays.†   (source)
  • No one would name her while being critical of her.†   (source)
  • He watched me critically.†   (source)
  • He looked at the panel critically, like a man trying to decide between cake and pie.†   (source)
  • A "stroke well aimed at this critical juncture might put a final end to the war," he argued.†   (source)
  • Her last client has an alibi for the critical hour.†   (source)
  • I pray you will not take offense, Rector, but he became most critical of your sermonizing.†   (source)
  • After I came home, things that had seemed so critical months before were now insignificant.†   (source)
  • The office bloodletting had made her irritable and more than usually critical.†   (source)
  • Pilar says the pattern of coins reveals something called "To Kuo," critical mass.†   (source)
  • We knew our capabilities better than anyone, and since we were being trusted to execute the operation, we would also have a critical role in the planning.†   (source)
  • It is important that you take this responsibility very seriously; it is a critical aspect of your education.†   (source)
  • You read things that are critical, and it cuts you to the bone.†   (source)
  • This burden rested not only on the critics, but also on the reader.†   (source)
  • They were literary critics, and they thought Billy was one, too.†   (source)
  • It's the wooden shoe that does it," said Philip, bending his head sidewise to study it in a manner of critical appreciation.†   (source)
  • In the view of these churchgoers, it is also having something of a reverse effect, making Northerners less critical of Southern speech.†   (source)
  • She'd learned quickly never to say a critical word about any of them.†   (source)
  • My body tensed as I felt the critical moment arrive as the game died on us.†   (source)
  • The next few seconds were critical.†   (source)
  • But when it comes to art, everyone is a critic, and there you have it.†   (source)
  • And how many of those nine do you think would desert you at the critical moment?†   (source)
  • But the situation is getting critical.†   (source)
  • The other wounded kids are in varying conditions, but they say most are out of critical danger by now.†   (source)
  • Alessandro thought that if he paid and demanded close attention he might catch a fault in treatment or stimulate the doctors and nurses to do so, and that if he kept up the privileged bearing that, oddly enough, had begun as a fugitive's method of evading capture, he could provide for his father a small margin that in desperate circumstances might be critical in preserving his life.†   (source)
  • But somebody more critical might say that the theme was envy.†   (source)
  • They looked at me critically, clearly wondering if Heidi was too fragile for my company.†   (source)
  • Then she casts a critical eye over Luke.†   (source)
  • Everyone admits our situation is critical and something must be done.†   (source)
  • Critics have accused Crook of padding his own part, but the book makes for compelling reading.†   (source)
  • But the barbarian had made a critical mistake.†   (source)
  • You just don't like the enterprise, and are territorial on behalf of your tribe, that of book readers and literary critics!†   (source)
  • Tom said critically, "You lookin' kinda peaked.†   (source)
  • In Stone's critical view, the central fact remained that in the city's darkest hour, Socrates "never shed a tear for Athens."†   (source)
  • She wrinkled her nose, mouth screwed up to one side in what was supposed to be the look of a learned critic.†   (source)
  • Days passed, and weeks, and months, and Hisham went on working in the department with his old application but with only half his mind, the other half being preoccupied with the urgent and critical question, what could he do to please Dr. Bassiouni?†   (source)
  • A small flaw in appearance wasn't critical, but not so in sound.†   (source)
  • Did he fall below that "critical number" it takes to sustain self-awareness?†   (source)
  • He's still critical but holding on.'†   (source)
  • I watched her critically.†   (source)
  • I do not say this as one of those negative critics who can always find something wrong with the church.†   (source)
  • He needs urgent critical care.†   (source)
  • Mrs. Glass gave her garden a final critical glance.†   (source)
  • Phil was even more critical, but it was all in good fun.†   (source)
  • Well, the critical components.†   (source)
  • At this critical juncture none but the most self-assured of men, no matter how certain he may be of his privacy, can refrain from casting a surreptitious glance around to reassure himself that he really is alone.†   (source)
  • The finicky, critical husband looking through his art books on mythical Greece.†   (source)
  • He is critical of ways he has known all his life.†   (source)
  • Now, the critical factor in warfare was time, measured in minutes or seconds.†   (source)
  • She was not very good at this, because all too often she agreed with the critics.†   (source)
  • Remember that Puritans were utterly devoted, like literary critics, to the Word.†   (source)
  • A critical deficiency of iron.†   (source)
  • I won't be too critical.'†   (source)
  • It's the story of a middle-aged man who'd come from a farm in the Middle West, who's taciturn and unhappy as a teacher of linguistics and now has reached a critical point in his life.†   (source)
  • Not only do they steal but they are critical of anyone who tries to reform them.†   (source)
  • Most of the first week he existed in the half-world of the critically hurt where there is neither night nor day, time nor reality, but only the overlapping periods of confused consciousness and dreams and nightmares.†   (source)
  • They would also know who had stopped them; and they might be interested enough, at a critical time like this, to do something rash.†   (source)
  • Peter surveyed her critically.†   (source)
  • I'm a critic.†   (source)
  • They all owed a lot to movies in which boys like Mickey Rooney had seen their wildest dreams come true, and I realized that, with my lack of acting talent, all of them were going to sound false at the critical moment when I wanted to cry out my love spontaneously from the heart.†   (source)
  • The critical note jarred a little.†   (source)
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