Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The quality, state, or degree of being of the highest importance.
  • noun The point at which a nuclear reaction is self-sustaining.
  • noun The state of a substance or system at its critical point.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The quality of being critical.
  • noun A critical idea or observation.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The state of being critical
  • noun education A disposition for purposeful thinking and acting guided by criteria that are considered to be contextually appropriate and that are expected to result in positive outcomes related to the purpose.
  • noun physics The point at which a nuclear reaction becomes self-sustaining

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a critical state; especially the point at which a nuclear reaction is self-sustaining
  • noun a state of critical urgency

Etymologies

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Examples

  • No requirement of "criticality" is necessary for ideological correctness: the purpose of art is to be aesthetic, and contemporary artists are exploiting the aesthetic possibilities of mass culture to create "fine art" that doesn't pretend to an inherent "superiority" over that culture.

    Art and Culture 2010

  • He said the unit, which shut down on Saturday in reaction to outages elsewhere on the national grid, was synchronised with the grid at 4. 30am on Thursday, which meant the process of bringing it to "criticality" - the point at which it started generating - could start.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2006

  • I would suggest that this exact effect, in which criticality is located as part of somebody’s worldview rather than as required by reality, and can thus be left to churn away at the next table, starts to account for iniquities of publication and prize money.

    Essentialism? Say What? : Emily Warn : Harriet the Blog : The Poetry Foundation 2007

  • But the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security, in a report released Tuesday, found that the list was not child’s play: all these “unusual or out-of-place” sites “whose criticality is not readily apparent” are inexplicably included in the federal antiterrorism database.

    July 2006 2006

  • This much we know: 1. On 19 February, 2000, MAPLE1 began a self-sustaining reaction, known as criticality; something necessary to be a real-live nuclear reactor; 2. On 9 October, 2003, MAPLE2 went critical.

    Multipurpose Applied Physics Lattice Experiment may in fact, WORK. Dave 2009

  • This much we know: 1. On 19 February, 2000, MAPLE1 began a self-sustaining reaction, known as criticality; something necessary to be a real-live nuclear reactor; 2. On 9 October, 2003, MAPLE2 went critical.

    Archive 2009-06-01 Dave 2009

  • Tube vaults are typically cylinders embedded in concrete that prevent the accidental formation of critical masses of highly enriched uranium that could undergo bursts of nuclear fission, known as a criticality incident.

    Original Signal - Transmitting Buzz 2009

  • Tube vaults are typically cylinders embedded in concrete that prevent the accidental formation of critical masses of highly enriched uranium that could undergo bursts of nuclear fission, known as a criticality incident.

    Propeller Most Popular Stories 2009

  • Tube vaults are typically cylinders embedded in concrete that prevent the accidental formation of critical masses of highly enriched uranium that could undergo bursts of nuclear fission, known as a criticality incident.

    Vleeptron_Z 2009

  • Tube vaults are typically cylinders embedded in concrete that prevent the accidental formation of critical masses of highly enriched uranium that could undergo bursts of nuclear fission, known as a criticality incident.

    WordPress.com News 2009

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