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

But, after criticism from Mayor Karen Bass and others, the district attorney downgraded the counts to misdemeanors with a diversion agreement that will probably allow Flores to avoid any time behind bars.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026

Arday said the criticism had gone "far beyond scholarly disagreement".

From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026

Does this all show Chelsea's recruitment strategy, which has attracted significant criticism over the years, has finally started to deliver, at least financially?

From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026

Wright, who traveled to Venezuela to oversee the signing of a series of energy deals worth billions of dollars, sought to dispel criticism in comments made to AFP and other outlets at Caracas airport.

From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026

Something had been established which Emily took to be a criticism of herself.

From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan

Professor Evelyn Collins says commissioners accept "criticisms that have been made"

From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026

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

The decision comes after a fraught few years in which the Sussexes have repeatedly aired criticisms about the royal family and Prince Harry launched several lawsuits against the British tabloids.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026

When she attended a talk with him, he would make sure to say it could have been better, or that the first ten minutes were boring, as though to preempt her own criticisms.

From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Related Words

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