crucial

a. 决定性的, 重要的, 严厉的
【医】 十字形的; 决断的, 定局的

副词:crucially 

cru.cial

adj.（形容词）


Extremely significant or important:
关键性的：极其重要的，极其显要的：
例句：
a crucial problem.
关键性的问题

Vital to the resolution of a crisis; decisive:
决定性的：对某一危机的解决有重要作用的；决定性的：
例句：
a crucial election.See Synonyms at decisive
决定性选举参见 decisive

Archaic Having the form of a cross; cross-shaped.
【古语】 十字形的：有十字形状的；十字形的

来源：
From New Latin (instantia) crucis, (experimentum) crucis [crossroads (case), crossroads (experiment)]
源自 现代拉丁语 (instantia) crucis, (experimentum) crucis [关键性（事例），关键性（实验）]
from Latin crux cruc- [cross]
源自 拉丁语 crux cruc- [十字架]
Sense 2, French
释义2， 法语
from Old French
源自 古法语
from Latin crux cruc- [cross]
源自 拉丁语 crux cruc- [十字架]

【引伸】
cru.cially
adv.（副词）
<注释>A crucial election is like a signpost because it shows which way the electorate is moving. The metaphor of a signpost, in fact, gives us the sense of the wordcrucial, .of supreme importance, critical.. Francis Bacon used the phraseinstantia crucis, .crucial instance,. to refer to something in an experiment that proves one of two hypotheses and disproves the other. Bacon`s phrase was based on a sense of the Latin wordcrux, .cross,. which had come to mean .a guidepost that gives directions at a place where one road becomes two,.and hence was suitable for Bacon`s metaphor.Both Robert Boyle, often called the father of modern chemistry, and Isaac Newton used the similar Latin phraseexperimentum crucis, .crucial experiment.. When these phrases were translated into English,they becamecrucial instance and crucial experiment.
决定性选举就象路标一样，因为它显示了全体选民的意向。路标这一比喻实际上向我们表示了crucial 这一词的意义.极其重要的，关键性的.。 弗朗西斯·培根曾用instantia crucis .关键性例子.这一词组来指在某一实验中证明两个假设之一正确和另一假设错误的东西。 培根的这一词组是基于拉丁语crux .十字形.的意思之上的， 它的意思为.在一条路分为两条岔路的地方用于指示方向的路标.，因此它适用于培根的这一比喻。通常被称为现代化学之父的罗伯特·博伊尔和艾萨克·牛顿都用过experimentum crucis .关键性实验.这一类似的拉丁语词组。 当这些词组被译成英语后，就成了crucial instance 和 crucial experiment 这两个词组