{
    "term": "crucial",
    "partOfSpeech": "adjective",
    "academic": true,
    "ox3000": true,
    "cefr": "b2",
    "definitions": [
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "extremely important, because it will affect other things",
            "sensetop": "crucial to somethingcrucial for somethingit is crucial that…crucial in doing something",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "The next few weeks are going to be crucial."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Private security cameras can **prove crucial** in some investigations."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Parents **play a crucial role** in preparing their child for school."
                },
                {
                    "text": "This step is a **crucial part** of the process."
                },
                {
                    "text": "a **crucial step/point**"
                },
                {
                    "text": "He wasn't there **at the crucial moment** *(= when he was needed most)*."
                },
                {
                    "text": "a **crucial element/factor/question/issue**"
                },
                {
                    "text": "topics **of crucial importance**"
                },
                {
                    "text": "Winning this contract is **absolutely crucial** to our long term success.",
                    "contextForm": "crucial to something"
                },
                {
                    "text": "The talks are crucial for the success of the plan.",
                    "contextForm": "crucial for something"
                },
                {
                    "text": "Early detection is crucial in the fight against cancer."
                },
                {
                    "text": "It is crucial that we get this right.",
                    "contextForm": "it is crucial that…"
                },
                {
                    "text": "The summit was crucial in shaping the reform process.",
                    "contextForm": "crucial in doing something"
                },
                {
                    "text": "Secrecy is crucial to this police operation."
                },
                {
                    "text": "A crucial factor affecting educational performance is the competence of the teacher."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Getting these procedures right is of crucial importance."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Winning this contract is crucial to the success of the company."
                }
            ],
            "synonyms": "critical, essential",
            "collocations": {
                "verbs": ["be", "prove", "seem"],
                "adverb": ["really", "very", "absolutely"],
                "preposition": ["for", "to"]
            }
        }
    ],
    "pronunciations": {
        "uk": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈkruːʃl/",
                "audio": "cr/crucial/crucial__gb_2.mp3"
            }
        ],
        "us": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈkruːʃl/",
                "audio": "cr/crucial/crucial__us_1.mp3"
            }
        ]
    },
    "wordOrigin": "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 fingerpost marking a fork at a crossroad; Newton and Boyle took up the metaphor in experimentum crucis ‘crucial experiment’."
}