criticism

American  

[krit-uh-siz-uhm] / ˈkrɪt əˌsɪz əm /

noun

• criticisms
  plural

1. the act of passing judgment as to the merits of anything.

2. the act of passing severe judgment; censure; faultfinding.

   Synonyms:

   animadversion, stricture

3. the act or art of analyzing and evaluating or judging the quality of a literary or artistic work, musical performance, art exhibit, dramatic production, etc.

4. a critical comment, article, or essay; critique.

5. any of various methods of studying texts or documents for the purpose of dating or reconstructing them, evaluating their authenticity, analyzing their content or style, etc..

   historical criticism; literary criticism.

6. investigation of the text, origin, etc., of literary documents, especially Biblical ones.

   textual criticism.

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criticism British  

/ ˈkrɪtɪˌsɪzəm /

noun

1. the act or an instance of making an unfavourable or severe judgment, comment, etc

2. the analysis or evaluation of a work of art, literature, etc

3. the occupation of a critic

4. a work that sets out to evaluate or analyse

5. Also called: textual criticism. the investigation of a particular text, with related material, in order to establish an authentic text

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Synonym Usage

See review.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• countercriticism
  noun
• overcriticism
  noun
• precriticism
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• criticisms
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of criticism

First recorded in 1600–10; critic + -ism

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Explanation

If you dye your hair bright blue, you're likely to get some criticism from people who just don't understand your personal style. When you're on the receiving end of criticism, you are being judged in a disapproving way. The noun criticism is most often used to describe negative commentary about something or someone, but it's just as correct to use criticism to mean "an examination or judgment." Critics who review books and movies consider their reviews to be criticism, whether they're positive or negative. So the criticism you receive doesn't have to be all about your faults; it can actually be a pleasant experience.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

criticism criticisms

The big picture is that tech companies have faced so much criticism for making deals behind closed doors that they have to try a new approach.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

As criticism over the public display mounted, Trump said on Thursday that "many very good and well meaning people would rather not watch him die".

From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026

Mamdani, for his part, has been steadfast in his response to the criticism.

From Slate ● Oct. 15, 2026

The city of L.A. also drew criticism for the fact that the Santa Ynez Reservoir was dry during the firestorm, while the L.A.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2026

He has found that he can find out much of what he needs to know just by focusing on what he calls the Four Horsemen: defensiveness, stonewalling, criticism, and contempt.

From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell

But using a market path would address some of Warsh’s criticisms of current communication.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026

Two years later, Elabed still remembers the encounter more favorably than someone hearing her criticisms of Harris might expect.

From Slate ● Sep. 25, 2026

In January, with Ruben Amorim under pressure for poor results, the Portuguese said that "if people cannot handle the Gary Nevilles and the criticisms of everything, we need to change the club".

From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026

In Westchester, the helicopter criticisms have grown loud enough that they are drawing criticisms of their own.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

He is overly sensitive to criticisms that others make of him, and cannot tolerate being made fun of.

From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote

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Related Words

• assessment
• comment
• critique
• judgment
• opinion
• review

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