crux

Meaning

1. The basic, central, or essential point or feature.
2. The critical or transitional moment or issue, a turning point.
3. A puzzle or difficulty.
4. The hardest point of a climb.
5. A cross on a coat of arms.

Synonyms

knot

🪢

nub

key

🔑

difficulty

essence

crux of the matter

point

kernel

substance

gaff

gist

grass roots

heart and soul

hitch

idea

💡

inconvenience

marrow

nitty-gritty

nucleus

pith

problem

quiddity

riddle

rub

scabrousness

significance

straitness

straits

chief problem

essential point

important point

difficult problem

puzzling thing

the constellation of the Southern Cross

arduousness

Extract

bend

burden

burl

catch

clue

core

cross

crucial point

Pronounced as (IPA)

/kɹʌks/

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”).