cruxes

Noun

crux (plural cruxes or cruces)

1. The basic, central, or essential point or feature.
   • The crux of her argument was that the roadways needed repair before anything else could be accomplished.

   Synonyms:

   core, essence, heart, gist, bowels, sum, brass tacks, drift, guts, gravamen

2. The critical or transitional moment or issue, a turning point.
   • The mad certitude of the ogre, Abel Tiffauges, that he stands at the crux of history and that he will be able to raise Prussia "to a higher power" (p. 180), contrasts sharply with the anxiety and doubt attendant upon most modern literary dreams.1993, Laurence M. Porter, “Real Dreams, Literary Dreams, and the Fantastic in Literature”, in Carol Schreier Rupprecht, editor, The Dream and the Text: Essays on Literature and Language, pages 32–47
3. A puzzle or difficulty.
   • What I have advanced upon this species of verse will contribute to solve a poetical problem, thrown out by Dryden as a crux to his brethren1775, Thomas Sheridan, Lectures on the Art of Reading

   Synonyms:

   enigma, puzzle, riddle, conundrum

4. The hardest point of a climb.
   • the real crux of the climb was encountered1907, The Alpine Journal, volume 23
5. A cross on a coat of arms.

See all 6 meanings of crux