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crux

noun
/kɹʌks/UK/kɹʊks//kɹʌks/US

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin crux (“cross, wooden frame for execution”), possibly from the Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, to bend”). Doublet of cross and crouch (“cross”).

  1. derived from *(s)ker-✻
  2. borrowed from crux

Definitions

  1. 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.

  2. The critical or transitional moment or issue, a turning point.

    • The movie hits its dramatic crux an hour in, when Reality [Winner], at work at the contractor’s facility in Georgia, discovers what she deems a tragic scandal.

  3. A puzzle or difficulty.

    • What I have advanced upon this species of verse will contribute to solve a poetical problem, thrown out by Dryden as a crux to his brethren
    • The perpetual crux of New Testament chronologists.
  4. ›+ 3 more definitions

    1. The hardest point of a climb.

      • the real crux of the climb was encountered
      • The final half-mile was the crux of the climb.
      • 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.

    2. A cross on a coat of arms.

    3. A distinctive winter constellation of the southern sky, shaped like a cross. It appears…

      A distinctive winter constellation of the southern sky, shaped like a cross. It appears in the flags of several countries in Oceania.

The neighborhood

Derived

crux ansata, crux decussata, crux gammata, crux ordinaria, crux simplex, cruxy

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for crux. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA