What does "pivotal" mean?

Of, relating to, or being a pivot.

What is a synonym for "pivotal"?

Common synonyms include: critical, crucial, key, acute, axial, behind the scenes.

Pivotal

//ˈpɪvɪtəl// adj

adj ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Adjective

1
Of, relating to, or being a pivot.
2
Being of crucial importance; central, key.
"It is time the international community faced the reality: we have an unmanageable, unfair, distortionary global tax regime. It is a tax system that is pivotal in creating the increasing inequality that marks most advanced countries today […]."

Adjective

1
being of crucial importance wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

critical crucial key acute axial behind the scenes

Antonyms

All antonyms

immaterial nothingburger petty simple

Example

More examples

"After a while, they suddenly started calling her “third wife”; at first it was a joke, but it went on to become a habit, to the extent that seniors and juniors, old and young all used “third wife” as her name. Was this the pivotal moment for disagreement in the family?"

Etymology

From pivot + -al.

Related phrases

pivotal quantity

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.