the crux

noun

: the most important part of something (such as a problem, issue, puzzle, etc.)

—usually + of

The crux of the matter is that people are afraid of change.

It's taken a while to get to the crux of the problem, but I think I finally understand it.

Examples of the crux in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

That was the crux of the issue Tuesday when MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and MLB Players Association interim executive director Bruce Meyer spoke with members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown. — Chad Bishop, AJC.com, 16 July 2026

And the crux of that argument is that they were designated at too large of a scale. — Natalie Krebs, Outdoor Life, 16 July 2026

Chief among these are the Trojan horse and Odysseus’ leading role in its deployment, which, for Nolan, becomes the crux of the story, shaping Odysseus’ personality and determining the course of his life through his wanderings. — Richard Brody, New Yorker, 15 July 2026

The Five Star Weekend goes from being a story about the ways women can forge companionship with those who have wronged them to a story that makes the men in Hollis’s life the crux of her happiness. — Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 14 July 2026

Rhymes for the crux

• deluxe
• influx
• mamluks
• redux
• woodchucks
• chucks
• ducks
• dux
• flux
• klux
• lux
• plucks