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Catastrophic vs Critical - What's the difference?

catastrophic | critical | Related terms |

As adjectives the difference between catastrophic and critical

is that catastrophic is of or pertaining to a catastrophe while critical is inclined to find fault or criticize; fastidious; captious; censorious; exacting.

As a noun critical is

a critical value, factor, etc.

catastrophic

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Of or pertaining to a catastrophe.
  • Disastrous; ruinous.
  • * 2009 : Stuart Heritage], [http://www.hecklerspray.com/ Hecklerspray] , Friday the 22nd of May in 2009 at 1 o’clock p.m., “[http://www.hecklerspray.com/jon-kate-latest-people-you-dont-know-do-crap-you-dont-care-about/200934378.php Jon & Kate Latest: People You Don’t Know Do Crap You Don’t Care About”
    • The reason why Jon & Kate Plus 8'' is such a hot topic is because it might all be a sham. It’s been claimed that Jon has a string of mistresses, that Kate had an affair with her bodyguard and that Baby Number Six''' is actually a shaved Ewok with a ' catastrophic heroin addiction. Or something.

    Synonyms

    * catastrophal

    Antonyms

    * anastrophic

    critical

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Inclined to find fault or criticize; fastidious; captious; censorious; exacting.
  • :
  • Pertaining to, or indicating, a crisis or turning point.
  • :
  • *
  • *:Such a scandal as the prosecution of a brother for forgery—with a verdict of guilty—is a most truly horrible, deplorable, fatal thing. It takes the respectability out of a family perhaps at a critical moment, when the family is just assuming the robes of respectability:it is a black spot which all the soaps ever advertised could never wash off.
  • Extremely important.
  • :
  • *{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=September-October, author= Katie L. Burke
    • , magazine=(American Scientist), title= In the News , passage=Oxygen levels on Earth skyrocketed 2.4 billion years ago, when cyanobacteria evolved photosynthesis:
  • Relating to criticism or careful analysis, such as literary or film criticism.
  • :
  • (lb) Of a patient condition involving unstable vital signs and a prognosis that predicts the condition could worsen; or, a patient condition that requires urgent treatment in an intensive care or critical care medical facility.
  • :
  • Likely to go out of control if disturbed, that is, opposite of stable.
  • :
  • Of the point (in temperature, reagent concentration etc.) where a nuclear or chemical reaction becomes self-sustaining.
  • :

    • Derived terms

    {{der3, criticality , critically , criticalness , critical angle , critical mass , critical point , critical thinking , mission-critical , pseudocritical , supercritical}}

    Related terms

    * critic * criticism

    See also

    * (wikipedia "critical") * (Medical state)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A critical value, factor, etc.
  • * 1976 , American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Journal of engineering for industry (volume 98, page 508)
    • The second undamped system criticals show a greater percentage depression than the first.
  • * 2008 , John J. Coyle, C. John Langley, Brian Gibson, Supply Chain Management: A Logistics Perspective (page 564)
    • Finally, criticals are high-risk, high-value items that give the final product a competitive advantage in the marketplace Criticals, in part, determine the customer's ultimate cost of using the finished product — in our example, the computer.

    External links

    * * * English words suffixed with -al