Definition of "critical point" []

• Physics The temperature and pressure at which the liquid and gaseous phases of a pure stable substance become identical. Also called critical state. (noun)
• Mathematics A maximum, minimum, or point of inflection of a curve. (noun)
• Mathematics A point at which the derivative of a function is zero, infinite, or undefined. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Windler, was preparing for the spacecraft to reach the critical point in its trajectory where the astronauts could insert their spacecraft into humankind’s first lunar orbit."
• "To drive home the critical point that the foundation of life is a congeries of ultrasophisticated molecular machinery gathered inside the nanobots called cells—and to give some background for showing what Darwinian evolution can and can’t do in the realm of the nanobots—in this appendix I’ll recount some highlights from the history of biology and take a look at how some work gets done in a real nanobot."