Posted by majid72 · July 29, 2009 · 3 replies
Hello
Could you please tell me if I use critical and crucial instead of each other in the following sentences ,is / are there any change(s) in meaning?
1-Wining the contract is crucial to the success of the company.
2-these accusations came at a critical phase.
3-their efforts and knowledge are critical these conditions.
4-Anderson played a crucial role in the team's 3 2 victory on Saturday.
5-The talks are at a critical juncture .
Thank you.
As English speakers we do tend to interchange these words. In your five examples the words you chose sound fine. For #4 you would need a word after "critical". You could say: "their efforts and knowledge are critical under these conditions." There are times when you can only use "critical" in sayings like "critical mass" or "critical condition", but in your examples you didn't misuse any words.
"Crucial" comes from the Latin "crux" meaning cross, so it can be seen as a point where a crossroad had to be chosen, or where a decision had to be made. "Critical" comes from the Greek for "judge" and "decision" so there is quite an overlap in their current meanings.
Thank you for your replies.
So, you're saying that I can use them interchangeably in all occasions(when it comes to meaning of the greatest importance) without being worried about any difference in their meaning?
Regards
