critic

American  

[krit-ik] / ˈkrɪt ɪk /

noun

critics plural

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

Derived Forms

• supercritic
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• critics
  plural

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

Explanation

A critic is someone who finds fault with something and expresses an unfavorable opinion. You might be a critic of your school’s new plan to start the school day at 6:30 a.m. The word critic came into English by way of Latin, tracing back to the Greek word krinein, meaning “judge, decide.” If you’re a critic, you’re essentially judging something — and finding it lacking. Critic can be used broadly to describe any person expressing an unfavorable view, but there are professional critics as well, such as people who review movies or music. In that sense, the word describes someone who thoughtfully assesses something, either favorably or negatively.

Example Sentences

Her legal team described the businessman as a Russian-born exile and outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, arguing that Pitt’s claims amounted to an inaccurate and xenophobic attempt to discredit him.

From MarketWatch • Jul. 6, 2026

I think of Ruth Reichl’s “Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise,” her account of her tenure as restaurant critic for the New York Times in the nineteen-nineties.

From Salon • Jul. 5, 2026

For Reichl, the costume helped the critic disappear.

From Salon • Jul. 5, 2026

The former property tycoon fled China to the US in 2017, where he reinvented himself as a Communist Party critic and built a loyal online following.

From BBC • Jun. 30, 2026

But he was a natural contrarian, a born critic, whose fullest energies manifested themselves in the act of doing intellectual isometric exercises against the fixed objects presented by someone else's ideas.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis

Related Words

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