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

The delays in investigating past crimes have attracted stringent criticism from rights groups.

From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026

In 2025, she faced sharp criticism over the city’s response to the January Palisades fire, and for being in Ghana when the fire began amid high wind warnings.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2026

Ben-Gvir deleted the post following criticism, but not before it amassed millions of views online.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026

Analysts saw it as an attempt to gain the advantage before another hailstorm of criticism comes raining down.

From Barron's

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

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

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

He told her viewer criticisms were more aimed at her positions, at not how she sounded.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026

One of the criticisms of the previous England regime, under captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum, was their inability to finish series strongly.

From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026

The Cupertino-based company said it had reduced the visible crease in the middle of the screen -- one of the main criticisms leveled at foldables.

From Barron's ● Sep. 9, 2026

Despite Burr’s criticisms, séances remained as popular as ever.

From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock

Related Words

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