What's the difference between crucial and key?

Crucial


Definition:

  • (a.) Having the form of a cross; appertaining to a cross; cruciform; intersecting; as, crucial ligaments; a crucial incision.
  • (a.) Severe; trying or searching, as if bringing to the cross; decisive; as, a crucial test.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Therefore, the measurement of the alpha-antitrypsin content plays the crucial part in differential diagnosis of primary (hereditary determined) and secondary (obstructive) emphysema.
  • (2) At first it looked as though the winger might have shown too much of the ball to the defence, yet he managed to gain a crucial last touch to nudge it past Phil Jones and into the path of Jerome, who slipped Chris Smalling’s attempt at a covering tackle and held off Michael Carrick’s challenge to place a shot past an exposed De Gea.
  • (3) The agriculture ministry raised the risk level of the virus spreading from moderate to high on Tuesday across the country, at a crucial time for the industry.
  • (4) Conservative commentators responded with fury to what they believed was inappropriate meddling at a crucial moment in the town hall debate.
  • (5) Although the performance aspects of electronic displays are crucial considerations in workstation design, experience suggests that human factors in mechanical operation, software accessibility, and workstation environment are also important.
  • (6) The secretary of state should work constructively with frontline staff and managers rather than adversarially and commit to no administrative reorganisation.” Dr Jennifer Dixon, chief executive, Health Foundation “It will be crucial that the next government maintains a stable and certain environment in the NHS that enables clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to continue to transform care and improve health outcomes for their local populations.
  • (7) The results suggest that the ACTH-containing part of the hypothalamus around the PVH is crucially involved in the organization of grooming behaviour.
  • (8) A functional impairment of the amino acid transport systems at the level of the blood-brain barrier seems to play a crucial role in causing deleterious modifications of the synaptic neurotransmission in the central nervous system.
  • (9) The cerebral distribution and regulation of excitatory amino acid levels may play a crucial role in neuronal development.
  • (10) Imagining faces was also the only condition that led to an increase of activity in the left inferior occipital region which has been suggested by previous studies as being a crucial area for visual imagery.
  • (11) This is the most crucial issue of our time and the people must be heard, not criminalised."
  • (12) Therefore it is crucial to investigate the role of glucocorticoids in non-pituitary tumours and this requires an understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in glucocorticoid inhibition of the normal POMC gene in the pituitary.
  • (13) The agreement, hailed as a "landmark" deal and a breakthrough by politicians and the green lobby alike, came before a crucial EU summit opening in Brussels tomorrow at which 27 prime ministers and presidents are supposed to finalise an ambitious package to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020.
  • (14) A comparison of the pharmacokinetics as well as the teratogenicity between cyclophosphamide and some specific deuterium-labeled analogues showed that the isotope effect observed can be related to a particular metabolic pathway crucial for teratogenic activation by this drug.
  • (15) The crucial issue of whether subtle behavioral, intellectual, and developmental impairment occurs in young children, as a result of lead-induced CNS damage is discussed in detail.
  • (16) The crucial point in all likelihood is the nature of this heme-binding protein.
  • (17) Standard criteria for staging and response evaluation, including pathologic documentation of remission status, are crucial.
  • (18) Given that a post-poll economy still registers as a crucial issue among undecided voters, and that matters economic are now his BBC day job, that was hardly surprising.
  • (19) Overall, these results confirm that the medial septum plays a crucial role in the acquisition of problem solving.
  • (20) He is joined by Cathy O’Toole, the ALP candidate for the crucial swing seat of Herbert where Rudd’s campaign bus has stopped on Sunday evening.

Key


Definition:

  • (n.) An instrument by means of which the bolt of a lock is shot or drawn; usually, a removable metal instrument fitted to the mechanism of a particular lock and operated by turning in its place.
  • (n.) An instrument which is turned like a key in fastening or adjusting any mechanism; as, a watch key; a bed key, etc.
  • (n.) That part of an instrument or machine which serves as the means of operating it; as, a telegraph key; the keys of a pianoforte, or of a typewriter.
  • (n.) A position or condition which affords entrance, control, pr possession, etc.; as, the key of a line of defense; the key of a country; the key of a political situation. Hence, that which serves to unlock, open, discover, or solve something unknown or difficult; as, the key to a riddle; the key to a problem.
  • (n.) That part of a mechanism which serves to lock up, make fast, or adjust to position.
  • (n.) A piece of wood used as a wedge.
  • (n.) The last board of a floor when laid down.
  • (n.) A keystone.
  • (n.) That part of the plastering which is forced through between the laths and holds the rest in place.
  • (n.) A wedge to unite two or more pieces, or adjust their relative position; a cotter; a forelock.
  • (n.) A bar, pin or wedge, to secure a crank, pulley, coupling, etc., upon a shaft, and prevent relative turning; sometimes holding by friction alone, but more frequently by its resistance to shearing, being usually embedded partly in the shaft and partly in the crank, pulley, etc.
  • (n.) An indehiscent, one-seeded fruit furnished with a wing, as the fruit of the ash and maple; a samara; -- called also key fruit.
  • (n.) A family of tones whose regular members are called diatonic tones, and named key tone (or tonic) or one (or eight), mediant or three, dominant or five, subdominant or four, submediant or six, supertonic or two, and subtonic or seven. Chromatic tones are temporary members of a key, under such names as " sharp four," "flat seven," etc. Scales and tunes of every variety are made from the tones of a key.
  • (n.) The fundamental tone of a movement to which its modulations are referred, and with which it generally begins and ends; keynote.
  • (n.) Fig: The general pitch or tone of a sentence or utterance.
  • (v. t.) To fasten or secure firmly; to fasten or tighten with keys or wedges.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Community involvement is a key element of the Primary Health Care (PHC) approach, and thus an essential topic on a course for managers of Primary Health Care programmes.
  • (2) A key way of regaining public trust will be reforming the system of remuneration as agreed by the G20.
  • (3) Instead, the White House opted for a low-key approach, publishing a blogpost profiling Trinace Edwards, a brain-tumour victim who recently discovered she was eligible for Medicaid coverage.
  • (4) The presence of a few key residues in the amino-terminal alpha-helix of each ligand is sufficient to confer specificity to the interaction.
  • (5) The key warning from the Fed chair A summary of Bernanke's hearing Earlier... MPs in London quizzed the Bank of England on Libor.
  • (6) "Seller reports are key to identifying bad buyers and ridding them from our marketplace," says eBay.
  • (7) It is suggested that the low-density lipoprotein receptors in human fetal liver may play a key role in the regulation of the serum cholesterol levels during gestation.
  • (8) A key component of a career program should be recognition of a nurse's needs and the program should be evaluated to determine if these needs are met.
  • (9) As novel antibody therapeutics are developed for different malignancies and require evaluation with cells previously uncharacterized as antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) targets, efficient description of key parameters of the assay system expedites the preclinical assessment.
  • (10) Meanwhile, Hunt has been accused of backtracking on a key recommendation in the official report into Mid Staffs.
  • (11) The safe motherhood initiative demands an intersectoral, collaborative approach to gynecology, family planning, and child health in which midwifery is the key element.
  • (12) Acetylcholinesterase is a key enzyme in cholinergic neurotransmission for hydrolyzing acetylcholine and has been shown to possess arylacylamidase activity in addition to esterase activity.
  • (13) If Lagarde had been placed under formal investigation in the Tapie case, it would have risked weakening her position and further embarrassing both the IMF and France by heaping more judicial worries on a key figure on the international stage.
  • (14) Four goals, four assists, and constant movement have been a key part of the team’s success.
  • (15) Mechanosensitive ion channels may play a key role in transducing vascular smooth muscle (VSM) stretch into active force development.
  • (16) But Abaaoud, the man thought to be a key planner for the group behind the Paris attacks, boasted to a niece that he had brought around 90 militants back to Europe with him.
  • (17) Key therapeutic questions are whether beta-lactams can safely replace aminoglycosides for the treatment of gram-negative pneumonia, and whether monotherapy or aminoglycoside and beta-lactam combination antibiotic treatment is superior.
  • (18) Teaching procedures then establish and build these key components to fluency.
  • (19) Doubts about Hinkley Point have deepened after a detailed report by HSBC’s energy analysts described eight key challenges to the project, which will be built by the state-backed French firm EDF and be part-financed by investment from China .
  • (20) The Lords will vote on three key amendments: • To exclude child benefit from the cap calculation (this would roughly halve the number of households affected).