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Critical vs Major - What's the difference?

critical | major |

As adjectives the difference between critical and major

is that critical is inclined to find fault or criticize; fastidious; captious; censorious; exacting while major is of great significance or importance.

As nouns the difference between critical and major

is that critical is a critical value, factor, etc while major is a military rank between captain and lieutenant colonel.

As a verb major is

to concentrate on a particular area of study as a student in a college or university.

As a proper noun Major is

{{surname}.

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

    major

    English

    Alternative forms

    * majour (obsolete)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl)

    Alternative forms

    * (abbreviation)

    Noun

    (wikipedia major)
  • (en noun), or, when used as a title before a person's name , Major
  • a military rank between captain and lieutenant colonel
    • He used to be a major in the army.
    This is Major Jones.
    Usage notes
    When used as a title, it is always capitalized. : Example: Major Jane Payne. The rank corresponds to pay grade O-4. Abbreviations: Maj. and MAJ.
    Related terms
    * majority * sergeant-major

    Etymology 2

    (etyl) , from Proto-Indo-European *ma?-yes-'' "greater", comparative of ''*ma?-, *me?- , "great".

    Adjective

  • Of great significance or importance.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-21, author= Karen McVeigh
    • , volume=189, issue=2, page=10, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= US rules human genes can't be patented , passage=The US supreme court has ruled unanimously that natural human genes cannot be patented, a decision that scientists and civil rights campaigners said removed a major barrier to patient care and medical innovation.}}
  • Greater in number, quantity, or extent.
    • the major part of the assembly
  • Of full legal age; having attained majority.
  • (music) Of a scale which follows the pattern: tone - tone - semitone - tone - tone - tone - semitone
    • a major scale.
  • (music) Being the larger of two intervals denoted by the same ordinal number.
  • (music) Containing the note which is a major third (four half steps) above the tonic.
    • Derived terms
    * majorly
    Antonyms
    * minor

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (US, Canada, Australia, and, New Zealand) The main area of study of a student working toward a degree at a college or university.
    • Midway through his second year of college, he still hadn't chosen a major .
  • (US, Canada, Australia, and, New Zealand) A student at a college or university concentrating on a given area of study.
    • She is a math major .
  • A person of legal age.
  • (logic) The major premise.
  • (Canadian football) An alternate term for touchdown; short for "major score".
  • A large, commercially successful record label, as opposed to an indie.
  • * 2005 , Billboard (volume 117, number 3, 15 January 2005, page 36)
    • He says Ninja Tune retains the master and publishing rights on most of its catalog, making it easy to license quickly. Yet as majors jump on the videogame bandwagon, he fears indies may lose that outlet.
    Antonyms
    * (a person of legal age) minor

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • to concentrate on a particular area of study as a student in a college or university
    • I have decided to major in mathematics.

    Anagrams

    * ----