critique
Americannoun
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an article or essay criticizing a literary or other work; detailed evaluation; review.
-
a criticism or critical comment on some problem, subject, etc.
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the art or practice of criticism.
verb (used with object)
noun
-
a critical essay or commentary, esp on artistic work
-
the act or art of criticizing
Etymology
Origin of critique
First recorded in 1695–1705; from French, from Greek kritikḗ “the art of criticism,” noun use of feminine of kritikós “critical, skilled in judging”; replacing critic
Explanation
As a verb, critique means to review or examine something critically. As a noun, a critique is that review or examination, like an art essay or a book report. The French version of this word is spelled the same (meaning "the art of criticism") and came from the Greek kritike tekhne ("the critical art"). This shouldn't come as a great surprise, since it was the Greeks who gave us such masters of the critique as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Today, through book reports, argument papers, and critical essays, we carry on the tradition of the critique, which is one of the most important skills we'll ever learn in school.
Vocabulary lists containing critique
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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The SAT: Language of the Test, List 3
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TEKS ELAR Academic Vocabulary List (5th-7th grades)
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Yet CEOs seemed to have internalized that critique in varied ways.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 11, 2026
Harris used the platform to launch a broad critique of Trump's leadership, telling the crowd: "The status quo is not working, and hasn't been working for a lot of people for a long time."
From Barron's • Apr. 10, 2026
There was even harsher critique from Baz Bamigboye in Deadline, describing it as "beyond seriously unfunny" and lamenting that he didn't laugh once.
From BBC • Mar. 22, 2026
That project would have served as a serviceable foundation for a career that expanded into more meaningful social critique, but Mr. Arsham has continued to rely on the same gimmick for over a decade.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 20, 2026
The following day, social critic and sociologist Michael Eric Dyson published a critique of Obama’s speech in Time magazine.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
