pivotal

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: piv=ot=al

CIDE DICTIONARY

pivotal, a. 

 Of or pertaining to a pivot or turning point; belonging to, or constituting, a pivot; of the nature of a pivot; as, the pivotalopportunity of a career; the pivotal position in a battle.  [1913 Webster]

THESAURUS

pivotal

acute, axial, behind the scenes, capital, cardinal, causal, causative, centermost, central, centralized, centric, centroidal, centrosymmetric, charged, clamorous, climacteric, compelling, concentrated, constitutive, critical, crucial, crying, decisive, determinative, effectual, emergent, essential, etiological, exigent, focal, formative, geocentric, high-pressure, high-priority, imperative, imperious, important, insistent, instant, institutive, kairotic, key, loaded, middle, middlemost, midmost, momentous, occasional, omphalic, originative, overriding, overruling, pregnant, pressing, principal, radical, ruling, significant, umbilical, urgent, vital