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“critical” in Latin

The English word critical itself goes back to Latin criticus.

Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864

critical
Belonging or referring to criticism, criticus: *ad criticam rationem emendatus (critically correct; of an edition, etc., F.A. Wolf). A critical edition, *editio ad criticam rationem correcta: *editio ad optimas membranas castigata. A work of which there is hardly a single critical edition, liber criticam manum vix semel expertus: critical writings, *libri, qui sunt de critico genere; *libri critici argumenti: critical exactness or precision, critica subtilitas: critical talents, *facultas critica: critical mind or faculty, ingenium acutum (☞ not subactum): to cultivate one’s critical powers, *ingenium ad criticam facultatem formare: according to, or consistently with, critical rules, critica ratione; ad criticam rationem: to write a critical commentary on a work, or on an author, *critica grammaticaque ratione interpretari: to publish a critical edition, *ad criticam rationem corrigere: *a curruptelarum sordibus judicando purgare (by correcting errours): an extensive acquaintance with critical investigations, *magnus totius rei criticae usus: with no sufficient knowledge of critical matters, *nullo critices usu: to possess no critical knowledge or talent whatever, *artis criticae expertem esse: to be engaged in (or to occupy one’s self with) a critical review of the writings of Velleius, *in recensendo Velleio elaborare.
Censorious, censorius: morosus: malevolus [SYN. in CRITIC]: mordax (litterally, that is biting, bitter, mortifying in words; e.g., carmen, Ov..).
Belonging to a crisis, and thus dangerous, anceps: dubius (doubtful): incertus (uncertain): a critical situation, res dubiae; discrimen: to be brought into a critical situation or position, in discrimen adduci: in this critical situation, rebus ita suspensis; in hoc tempore (Nep., Milt., 5, 1, where Bremi says that the preposition denotes a continued, and especially a criticcal time): public matters have come to, or are in a critical state, res publica in ancipiti est; res publica in discrimen adducta est: critical times, tempora periculosa or dubia: the critical turns and changes of affairs, inclinationes et momenta rerum, temporum, etc.: it was critical, anceps erat [Vid: CRISIS]: a critical day (e.g., of an illness), dies crisimus ( κρίσιμος ; Caelius, Aurel., Acut., 1, 14); dies potens, gravis, or quo de aegro judicatur (Cels.). The critical point of a disease, critica morbi accessio (Augustin) [illa] - anceps morbi fluctuatio (Augustin, Conf., 6, 1, extr. which, as fluctuatio has the authority of Livy, may be safely used).

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for critical?
The usual Latin words for “critical” are criticus, cēnsōrius, mōrōsus; also malevolus, mordāx, anceps. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.