Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- Excessively critical; hypercritical.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective physics (of a gas) Above its
critical temperature and critical pressure - adjective physics Having a
mass sufficient to sustain achain reaction - adjective aerodynamics Above the
speed of sound - adjective Above some other
critical value or range
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective (especially of fissionable material) able to sustain a chain reaction in such a manner that the rate of reaction increases
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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A so-called supercritical plant operates at sufficiently high pressures and temperatures (between 1000 and 1075 degrees Fahrenheit) such that the water and steam become indistinguishable (the critical point of a liquid), allowing efficiency rates to reach 42 percent.
Bill Chameides: China's Going Supercritical -- A Critical Test for China and World? 2010
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When CO2 is captured and prepared for storage, it enters what scientists call a supercritical phase: it behaves both like a liquid and a gas.
David Sassoon: Are Environmentalists and the Fossil Fuel Industry Calling a Truce? 2009
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New rules mean that about one fifth of India's new coal plants will be among the efficient (so-called supercritical) plants that are standard fare in much of the rest of the world.
He Protests Too Much 2009
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Even worse, the World Bank classifies these coal plants as "low carbon" financing projects if they are the so-called supercritical type with marginally better CO2 emissions rates.
Mindy S. Lubber: Climate Follies: Bankrolling Dirty Power in Developing Countries 2009
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When the water is in the so-called supercritical phase, the company says, its pH level can be adjusted to turn it into an acid.
NYT > Home Page By MATTHEW L. WALD 2011
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Renmatix says its industrial-scale process breaks down cellulose through something called "supercritical hydrolysis," which uses water at high temperatures and pressures to quickly solubilize cellulose from sources such as wood.
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In both phases, the cellulosic material is treated by water at a pressure and temperature that is so high that the water is neither steam nor an ordinary liquid but in a form known as "supercritical."
NYT > Home Page By MATTHEW L. WALD 2011
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When the water is in the so-called supercritical phase, the company says, its pH level can be adjusted to turn it into an acid.
NYT > Home Page By MATTHEW L. WALD 2011
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In both phases, the cellulosic material is treated by water at a pressure and temperature that is so high that the water is neither steam or an ordinary liquid but in a form known as "supercritical."
NYT > Home Page By MATTHEW L. WALD 2011
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Medupi is designed to operate at higher steam pressures and temperatures (termed supercritical) which enables it to achieve a higher efficiency than Eskom's existing coal-fired [plants].
Guardian Online 2010
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