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 ad, which has since been removed, has attracted criticism and and also received international coverage in publications such as the New York Post.

From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2026

But the practice is drawing mounting criticism for its environmental impact.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026

So what about Hurts engenders so much criticism and makes him such a polarizing figure?

From Salon ● Oct. 21, 2026

He continued to face criticism for the disappearance of thousands of unaccompanied migrant children who were supposed to be monitored by the agency’s Office of Refugee Resettlement after entering the country.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2026

The East German government cracked down on what little freedom citizens had, offering rewards to people for spying on their neighbors, for reporting any criticism of the government, any escape plans.

From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin

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

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026

Booking.com did not respond to Pollard's criticisms when approached for further comment.

From BBC ● Oct. 1, 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 Westchester, the helicopter criticisms have grown loud enough that they are drawing criticisms of their own.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

“Um, my film criticisms have been published on Film FANatic, if that helps.”

From "From Twinkle, with Love" by Sandhya Menon

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Related Words

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

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