kritieke

Kritieke is the attributive form of the Dutch adjective that conveys meanings such as critical, crucial, or decisive. It is used to describe a noun directly and signals importance, urgency, or a turning point in a situation, value, or factor. As a form of the adjective, kritieke appears in contexts where the noun it modifies is definite or otherwise requires an inflected adjective, and it is closely related to related terms such as kritiek (criticism) and kritisch (critical in a slightly different nuance).

Etymology and related terms: The Dutch adjective kritieke derives from the noun kritiek, meaning criticism or evaluation, which in turn traces back through historical layers to Latin and Greek roots via French. The broader semantic field includes notions of judgment, evaluation, and thresholds that determine outcomes.

Usage and examples: In everyday language, kritieke is used to describe situations or elements that are decisive or require careful handling. Examples include a kritieke situatie (a critical situation), een kritieke waarde (a critical value), or kritieke factoren (critical factors) that influence results. In science, engineering, and risk assessment, phrases such as kritieke punt or kritieke temperatuur appear to denote threshold conditions where changes become significant.

Distinctions: Kritieke is part of the same adjectival family as kritisch and kritiek. While kritiek is a noun meaning criticism, and kritisch describes a critical attitude or analytical stance, kritieke functions as an adjective to modify a noun directly. The exact form can vary with the noun and grammatical context, but all share the core sense of importance, urgency, or decisiveness.

See also: Kritik, kritisch, Dutch adjectives and their inflection, Critical value, Critical point.