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criticism

UK/ˈkɹɪtɪsɪzm̩/US/ˈkɹɪtɪsɪzm̩/
nounB2Common in everyday speech and writing · #4,789 of 15,258mostly written

Other forms: criticisms

Criticism is fault-finding, or careful judgement of a work. Constructive criticism, literary criticism, take criticism well.

The two senses cause real confusion: literary criticism is analysis and does not mean disapproval at all, while everyday criticism means being told what is wrong. Constructive criticism is the phrase people use before saying something unwelcome.

Definitions of criticism

  1. 1nouncriticismFault-finding, or careful judgement of a work.B2

    “The new stadium has faced strong criticism because of its huge cost.”

criticism is a judgement.

Where it comes from

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *krey-

  2. Ancient Greek

    κριτικός — of or for judging, able to discern

  3. Latin

    criticus

  4. Middle French

    critique

  5. English

    critic

  6. English, today

    criticism

Built from

  • κρίνω · Ancient Greek — to judge

From critic + -ism. critic Borrowed from Middle French critique, from Latin criticus, from Ancient Greek κριτικός (“of or for judging, able to discern”), from κρίνω (“to judge”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

criticism in the wild

  • Feminist literary criticism is literary criticism informed by feminist theory, or more broadly, by the politics of feminism.

    Feminist literary criticism

  • Whether or not literary criticism should be considered a separate field of inquiry from literary theory is a matter of some controversy.

    Literary criticism

  • Literary criticism is often published in essay or book form.

    Literary criticism

  • Research supports the notion that using feedback and constructive criticism in the learning process is very influential.

    Criticism

  • Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music.

    Music journalism

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the critique family

criticcriticism

criticism — used about once every 1,104 pages · #4,789 · point at the bar for the others

  • criticize