criticism

American  

[krit-uh-siz-uhm] / ˈkrɪt əˌsɪz əm /

noun

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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Related Words

See review.

Other Word Forms

• countercriticism noun
• overcriticism noun
• precriticism noun

Etymology

Origin of criticism

First recorded in 1600–10; critic + -ism

Example Sentences

In rare criticism of the government from pro-Kremlin media, a Russian tabloid this week published an article criticizing state efforts to police the internet.

From The Wall Street Journal

He added: "But the party, of course, should reflect on any complaints that have been made, any criticisms from those who have been victims of inappropriate behaviour, and we should always seek to do better."

From BBC

She has been vocal in her criticism of the agency and the fact that it has only released redacted versions of its “use of force” report from the July 2020 incident involving her son.

From Los Angeles Times

We saw how that worked out for USC, which abruptly canceled a scheduled debate after a storm of criticism over its selection process and the exclusion of those four candidates.

From Los Angeles Times

Domestic and international criticism has been mounting against the sole custody system in Japan, which critics say led many divorcees to become estranged from their children after losing custody of them.

From BBC

Related Words

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