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Cruciate vs Crux - What's the difference?

cruciate | crux |

As an adjective cruciate

is in the form of a cross; cruciform.

As a verb cruciate

is (obsolete) to torture; to torment.

As a proper noun crux is

(constellation) a distinctive winter constellation of the southern sky, shaped like a cross it appears in the flags of several countries in oceania.

cruciate

English

Adjective

(head)
  • In the form of a cross; cruciform.
  • Overlapping or crossing.

    • Derived terms

    * cruciate anastomosis * cruciate crural ligament * cruciate eminence * cruciate ligament * cruciate muscle * cruciate sulcus

    Verb

    (cruciat)
  • (obsolete) To torture; to torment.
    • (Bale)

    Related terms

    * excruciate (Webster 1913) ----

    crux

    English

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • The basic, central, or essential point or feature.
    • The crux of her argument was that the roadways needed repair before anything else could be accomplished.
  • The critical or transitional moment or issue, a turning point.
  • * 1993 , Laurence M. Porter, "Real Dreams, Literary Dreams, and the Fantastic in Literature", pages 32-47 in'' Carol Schreier Rupprecht (ed.) ''The Dream and the Text: Essays on Literature and Language .
    • The mad certitude of the ogre, Abel Tiffauges, that he stands at the crux of history and that he will be able to raise Prussia "to a higher power" (p. 180), contrasts sharply with the anxiety and doubt attendant upon most modern literary dreams.
  • A puzzle or difficulty.
    • The perpetual crux of New Testament chronologists. — Strauss.
  • The hardest point of a climb.
  • * 1973 , Pat Armstrong, "Klondike Fever: Seventy Years Too Late", in Backpacker , Autumn 1973, page 84:
    • The final half-mile was the crux of the climb.
  • * 2004 , Craig Luebben, Rock Climbing: Mastering Basic Skills , The Mountaineers Books, ISBN 9780898867435, page 179:
    • Most pitches have a distinct crux', or tough spot; some have multiple '''cruxes'''. ¶ Climb efficiently on the "cruiser" sections to stay fresh for the ' cruxes .
  • * 2009 , R. J. Secor, The High Sierra: Peaks, Passes, and Trails , Third Edition, The Mountaineers Books, ISBN 9780898869712, page 51:
    • Continue climbing the groove; the crux is passing some vegetation on the second pitch.
  • (heraldiccharge) A cross on a coat of arms.

    • Related terms

    * cross * crucial