crucial
/ˈkruːʃəl/adjective
1- decisive or critical, especially in the success or failure of something决定性的; 关键性的：
negotiations were at a crucial stage.
谈判处于关键阶段。
1.1
- of great importance至关重要的：
this game is crucial to our survival.
这场比赛对我们的生存至关重要。
1.2
- informal excellent〈非正式〉极好的。
派生词
cruciality
/kruːʃɪˈælətɪ/ nouncrucially
adverb词源
early 18th cent. （in the sense 'cross-shaped'）： from French, from Latin crux, cruc-' cross'. The sense 'decisive' is from Francis Bacon's Latin phrase instantia crucis 'crucial instance', which he explained as a metaphor from a crux or finger-post marking a fork at a crossroad; Newton and Boyle took up the metaphor in experimentum crucis 'crucial experiment'.