All 11 Uses of
critical
in
The Lords of Discipline
- For years I looked at her uncritically.†
Chpt Prol.uncritically = in a manner that does not find faultstandard prefix: The prefix "un-" in uncritically means not and reverses the meaning of critically. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
- It takes courage to criticize one of your classmates man to man.†
Chpt 1.5criticize = give an opinion of what is wrong with somethingstandard suffix: The suffix "-ize" converts a word to a verb. This is the same pattern you see in words like apologize, theorize, and dramatize.
- The way I looked at the world, enemies criticized and friends affirmed.†
Chpt 1.11criticized = gave an opinion of what was wrong with somethingstandard suffix: The suffix "-ize" converts a word to a verb. This is the same pattern you see in words like apologize, theorize, and dramatize.
- Here, at last, was the symbol, the absolute proof, that I was part of all of this, that I had earned the right to love the school, and to criticize it.†
Chpt 3.26 *criticize = give an opinion of what is wrong with somethingstandard suffix: The suffix "-ize" converts a word to a verb. This is the same pattern you see in words like apologize, theorize, and dramatize.
- I was often embarrassed by how much Bo preferred me to my teammates, but I also needed his gende and uncritical advocacy of me—I would always need people like Bo in my life.†
Chpt 3.30uncritical = not finding faultstandard prefix: The prefix "un-" in uncritical means not and reverses the meaning of critical. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
- I'm impervious to all criticism of my alma mater.†
Chpt 1.13
- And Mr. Santoro told me that he would not allow an Irishman to speak critically about his favorite professor's girth.†
Chpt 3.27 *
- My body tensed as I felt the critical moment arrive as the game died on us.†
Chpt 3.30
- We had reached a critical juncturewhere not the wildest, most egregious falsehood could help Pig.†
Chpt 4.41
- He was a man of resolute will, and Jim Rowland knew he had made a critical error by the vehemence with which Gauldin ruled and then gavelled the other members of the court into silence.†
Chpt 4.41 *
- When I walked into his office on Monday afternoon, General Bentley Durrell looked like the last surviving member of an elite but critically endangered peerage.†
Chpt 4.47
Definitions:
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(1)
(critical as in: a critical problem) important, serious, or dangerous
-
(2)
(critical as in: don't be so critical) finding fault and telling others; or tending to have unfavorable opinions
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(3)
(critical as in: critical acclaim) relating to careful analysis or thoughtful judgement of what is good and bad about something -- possibly from people whose job is to share their expert opinions in a given industry
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(4)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
See a comprehensive dictionary for more specialized senses of critical including those in mathematics and nuclear energy.