Question

refer to youth and tobacco use in the lesson for a complete version of this text
what does the word critical mean in this sentence?
preventing tobacco use among youth is critical to ending the tobacco epidemic in the united states.
○ secondary
○ highly important
○ very simple
○ somewhat

Explanation:

The word "critical" in the context of the sentence "Preventing tobacco use among youth is critical to ending the tobacco epidemic in the United States" implies that it is of utmost importance. Among the given options, "highly important" best captures this meaning. "Secondary" means less important, "very simple" is about ease of doing something, and "somewhat" is a degree adverb that doesn't convey the sense of importance required here.

Answer:

highly important