English → Latin
“critical” in Latin
criticuscritical, decisivecēnsōriuscensorial; rigid, severe; austeremōrōsuscaptious, persnickety, fastidious, difficult (to please); peevish, wayward, capriciousmalevolusdisaffected, envious, spiteful, malevolentmordāxbiting; snappish; tart; cutting; causticancepsdouble-headed, having two heads; having two summits or peaks; facing in two directionsdubiusMoving in two directions alternately, vibrating to and fro, fluctuating, wavering; Vacillating in mind, wavering, uncertincertusuncertain, doubtful, not sure, unsure; not knowing, doubting (said of persons); not known, obscure (said of things)
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.