crux
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /kɹʌks/
rhymes: -ʌks
Forms: form: cruxes
form: cruces
Etymology: 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”).
Senses: examples: text: The crux of her argument was that the roadways needed repair before anything else could be accomplished.
synonyms: word: core
word: gist
word: bowels
word: brass tacks
word: core
word: crux
word: essence
word: gist
word: drift
word: guts
word: gravamen
word: heart
word: heart and soul
word: heartstring
word: heartstrings
word: inwardness
word: kernel
word: marrow
word: meat
word: moral of the story
word: nitty-gritty
word: nub
word: nuts and bolts
word: pith
word: punctum saliens
word: quintessence
word: soul
word: spirit
word: stuff
word: substance
word: tenor
glosses: The basic, central, or essential point or feature.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1993, Laurence M. Porter, “Real Dreams, Literary Dreams, and the Fantastic in Literature”, in Carol Schreier Rupprecht, editor, The Dream and the Text: Essays on Literature and Language, pages 32–47:
text: 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.
ref: 2024 September 11, Richard Brody, ““Winner” Takes Political Comedy Seriously”, in The New Yorker:
glosses: The critical or transitional moment or issue, a turning point.
examples: text: 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
ref: 1775, Thomas Sheridan, Lectures on the Art of Reading:
text: The perpetual crux of New Testament chronologists.
ref: 1860, Marian Evans (translator), The Life of Jesus, Critically Examined (originally by David Strauss)
glosses: A puzzle or difficulty.
examples: text: the real crux of the climb was encountered
ref: 1907, The Alpine Journal, volume 23:
text: The final half-mile was the crux of the climb.
ref: 1973, Pat Armstrong, "Klondike Fever: Seventy Years Too Late", in Backpacker, Autumn 1973, page 84
text: 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.
ref: 2004, Craig Luebben, Rock Climbing: Mastering Basic Skills, The Mountaineers Books, →ISBN, page 179:
text: Continue climbing the groove; the crux is passing some vegetation on the second pitch.
ref: 2009, R. J. Secor, The High Sierra: Peaks, Passes, and Trails, Third Edition, The Mountaineers Books, →ISBN, page 51:
topics: climbing
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: The hardest point of a climb.
topics: government
heraldry
hobbies
lifestyle
monarchy
nobility
politics
glosses: A cross on a coat of arms.
Derived terms: crux ansata
crux decussata
crux gammata
crux ordinaria
crux simplex
cruxy
Related terms: cross
crucial