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critically

UK/ˈkɹɪt.ɪ.kə.li/US/ˈkɹɪt.ɪ.kə.li/
adverbB2+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #9,512 of 15,258mostly written

Critically means in a way that judges severely, or dangerously so. Critically ill, critically acclaimed, look at it critically.

The two senses are far apart: critically ill means at risk of dying, and critically acclaimed means the critics liked it. Thinking critically means examining an argument rather than attacking it.

Definitions of critically

  1. 1adverbcriticallyIn a way that judges severely, or dangerously so.B2+

    “The report spoke critically of the hospital's poor record on hygiene.”

critically is a manner.

Where it comes from

From critical + -ly.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

critically in the wild

  • More than half of all species listed as critically endangered are plants, with a total of 6,445 plant species listed as such.

    Critically endangered

  • There are 4,277 animal species, 48 fungi species and 4 chromista species listed as critically endangered.

    Critically endangered

  • The language is considered critically endangered by UNESCO.

    Orang Seletar language

  • Atlantis Sand Fynbos is a critically endangered fynbos vegetation type that occurs to the north of Cape Town, in the Western Cape, South Africa.

    Atlantis Sand Fynbos

  • Swartland Alluvium Fynbos is a critically endangered vegetation type that occurs on the high plains and mountains in the far south-west of the Western Cape, South Africa.

    Swartland Alluvium Fynbos

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

  • critical