critical issues

Meaning

1. 1nounusually plural

   Problems or topics that are so important that they must be dealt with because they affect the outcome of something.

   Grammar: Usually plural, and often followed by facing or for: the critical issues facing schools.

   Patterns

   • critical issues facing someone
   • critical issues for something
   • address critical issues

   The meeting will cover several critical issues, including budgets and safety.

   Climate change is one of the critical issues facing coastal cities.

   We must address the critical issues before launching the product.

Word forms

Common combinations

address critical issues

The board met to address critical issues in the contract.

identify critical issues

The audit helped identify critical issues in the system.

critical issues facing

Housing is among the critical issues facing young people.

raise critical issues

The report raises critical issues about patient safety.

resolve critical issues

Engineers worked overnight to resolve critical issues.

Synonyms and how they differ

key issues

Key issues are the main points to discuss, whereas critical issues are urgent enough to cause serious trouble if ignored.

crucial matters

Crucial matters stresses importance for success, while critical issues often implies risk or crisis.

urgent problems

Urgent problems stresses time pressure and negative effects more than importance.

Opposites

Word family

critical adjective

extremely important or serious

critically adverb

in an extremely important or serious way

criticality noun

the quality of being critical or essential

issue noun

a topic or problem for discussion

Commonly confused: critical issues or critique?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “critical issues”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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