critic

American  

[krit-ik] / ˈkrɪt ɪk /

noun

1. a person who judges, evaluates, or criticizes.

   a poor critic of men.

2. a person who judges, evaluates, or analyzes literary or artistic works, dramatic or musical performances, or the like, especially for a newspaper or magazine.

   Synonyms:

   judge, reviewer

3. a person who tends too readily to make captious, trivial, or harsh judgments; faultfinder.

   Synonyms:

   carper, censurer

4. Archaic.

   1. criticism.

   2. critique.

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critic British  

/ ˈkrɪtɪk /

noun

1. a person who judges something

2. a professional judge of art, music, literature, etc

3. a person who often finds fault and criticizes

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Other Word Forms

• supercritic noun

Etymology

Origin of critic

1575–85; < Latin criticus < Greek kritikós skilled in judging (adj.), critic (noun), equivalent to krī́t ( ēs ) judge, umpire ( krī́ ( nein ) to separate, decide + -tēs agent suffix) + -ikos -ic

Example Sentences

He was a freelance art critic from 1978 to 1989, art critic for the Washington Times from 1989 to 1993 and executive editor of ARTnews from 1994 to 1998.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 8, 2026

Our critic picks 17 unmissable works of art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s new David Geffen Galleries.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 8, 2026

The first US-born pope has become a vocal critic of the Iran war, and has used recent public addresses to denounce global conflicts and urge de-escalation.

From BBC • Apr. 5, 2026

Our critic heralded it as “an expertly crafted one-man thriller.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 5, 2026

Now, as I had no theory of any kind, don’t believe in Spiritualism, and copied my characters from life, I don’t see how this critic can be right.

From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott

Related Words

• authority
• cartoonist
• commentator
• expert
• judge
• pundit
• reviewer