Dictionary Definition
pivotal adj : being of crucial importance; "a
pivotal event"; "Its pivotal location has also exposed it to
periodic invasions"- Henry Kissinger; "the polar events of this
study"; "a polar principal" [syn: polar]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Pronunciation
Adjective
pivotal- of, relating to, or being a pivot
- being of crucial importance; central, key
Translations
of, relating to, or being a pivot
being of crucial importance; central, key
- Finnish: keskeinen, ratkaiseva
Translations to be checked
- ttbc German: Dreh..., Zapfen..., Angel...; zentral..., schlüssel..., Kardinal...;
Extensive Definition
Pivot may refer to:
- The fulcrum as part of a lever
- Pivot joint, a kind of joint between bones in the body
In mathematics:
- Pivot element — the first element distinct from zero in a matrix in echelon form
- Pivotal quantity in statistics
- An element of the quicksort algorithm
- Pivot Stickfigure Animator, stick-figure animation software
- Morrow Pivot and Morrow Pivot II, laptop computers
- Pivot display - function in displays
- Pivot table - a data summarization tool in spreadsheets
- Syntactic pivot, the argument of the verb around which the sentence "revolves"
- A pivot language is an artificial or natural language used as an intermediary language for translation.
- Pivot turn, a dance move
- Pivot turn (skiing)
- Pivot (card game)
- A player position in the sport of basketball, also known as a post or center.
- In basketball, the pivot foot is the foot that must remain on the floor when a player has possession of the ball and is not dribbling.
- A player position in the sport of roller derby
- A slang term for a quarterback
pivotal in Czech: Pivot
pivotal in German: Pivot
pivotal in French: Pivot
pivotal in Italian: Pivot
pivotal in Portuguese: Pivot
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
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