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

Etymology

Origin of criticism

First recorded in 1600–10; critic + -ism

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

Over the years, harsh criticism proved no match for “Rocky Horror Picture Show’s” unexpected staying power.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026

Students learned to take criticism, embrace failure and return to the stage.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026

The government has faced criticism for delays in passing the Troubles' legacy bill, which was introduced last year, following agreement on a joint framework with the Irish government.

From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026

In private, many Kuwaitis are more scathing in their criticism.

From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026

I look at my watch and decide to save myself from any more unsaid criticism.

From "Please Ignore Vera Dietz" by A.S. King

And sometimes she still takes issue with how Owens speaks, saying her criticisms can be malicious and not Christian.

From Salon ● Aug. 26, 2026

“I respect the fact that you recanted everything you said,” he told Cohen, referencing his former fixer’s recent criticisms of Bragg and James.

From Slate ● Aug. 24, 2026

Those criticisms, and the use by the Illinois Policy Institute and Mr. Berg of the word “toxic” to describe CTU, show intent to harm the union, the suit argues.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026

In a video statement on X after news of his suspension emerged on the Guido Fawkes website, Montgomerie said he was only trying to make the party "better and stronger" with his public criticisms.

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026

His criticisms both of the war as it had been conducted and of the army organization as it persisted were irresistibly penetrating.

From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck

Related Words

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