criticism

English

Etymology

critic +‎ -ism

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɹɪtɪsɪzəm/
• Hyphenation: crit‧i‧cism

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

criticism (countable and uncountable, plural criticisms)

1. The act of criticising; a critical judgment passed or expressed

   The politician received a lot of public criticism for his controversial stance on the issue.

2. a critical observation or detailed examination and review
   • 1874, Thomas Hardy, Far From the Madding Crowd, Barnes & Noble Classics (2005 publication of 1912 Wessex edition), page 276:

     Her attitude was that of a person who listens, either to the external world of sound, or to the discourse of thought. A close criticism might have detected signs proving that she was intent on the latter alternative.

   Synonyms: critique, animadversion, censure

Derived terms

Derived terms

• anticriticism
• autocriticism
• biocriticism
• constructive criticism
• contextual criticism
• countercriticism
• cybercriticism

• destructive criticism
• ecocriticism
• gynocriticism
• hypercriticism
• literary criticism
• metacriticism

• neocriticism
• New Criticism
• oneirocriticism
• self-criticism
• technocriticism
• textual criticism

Related terms

• critic
• criticise
• critical

Translations

act of criticising

• Albanian: kritikë (sq) f
• Arabic: نَقْد‎‎ m (naqd), اِنْتِقَاد‎‎ m (intiqād)
• Armenian: քննադատություն (hy) (kʿnnadatutʿyun)
• Azerbaijani: tənqid (az)
• Bashkir: тәнҡит (tänqit)
• Belarusian: кры́тыка f (krýtyka)
• Bulgarian: кри́тика (bg) f (krítika)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 批評 (zh), 批评 (zh) (pīpíng), 批判 (zh) (pīpàn), 評論 (zh), 评论 (zh) (pínglùn), 非難 (zh), 非难 (zh) (fēinàn)

• Czech: kritika (cs) f
• Danish: kritik c, dadel c
• Dutch: kritiek (nl)
• Esperanto: kritiko (eo)
• Estonian: arvustamine, kriitika
• Finnish: kritiikki (fi), arvostelu (fi), arviointi (fi), tarkastelu (fi)
• French: critique (fr) f
• Galician: crítica f
• Georgian: კრიტიკა (ḳriṭiḳa)
• German: Kritik (de) f, Tadel (de) m
• Greek: κριτική (el) f (kritikí), επίκριση (el) f (epíkrisi), κατάκριση (el) f (katákrisi)
• Hebrew: ביקורת / בִּקֹּרֶת‎‎ (he) f (biqóret)
• Hindi: आलोचना (hi) f (ālocnā)
• Hungarian: kritika (hu)
• Irish: beachtaíocht f, cáineadh m, critic f, léirmheastóireacht f
• Italian: critica (it) f
• Japanese: 批評 (ja) (ひひょう, hihyō)
• Kazakh: сын (sın)
• Korean: 평 (ko) (pyeong), 비평 (ko) (bipyeong)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: ڕه‌خنه‌‎‎ (ku) (rexne)

• Kyrgyz: сын (ky) (sın), критика (kritika)

• Latvian: kritika f
• Lithuanian: kritika f
• Macedonian: критика f (kritika)
• Maori: whakahēnga, whakahēanga
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kritikk (no) m

• Pashto: نقد‎‎ (ps) m (naqd), تنقيد‎‎ (ps) m (tanqíd), انتقاد‎‎ (ps) m (enteqãd)
• Persian: نقد‎‎ (fa) (naqd), انتقاد‎‎ (fa) (enteqâd)
• Polish: krytyka (pl) f
• Portuguese: crítica (pt) f, criticismo m
• Romanian: critică (ro) f
• Russian: кри́тика (ru) f (krítika), порица́ние (ru) n (poricánije)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: критика f

  Roman: kritika (sh) f

• Slovak: kritika f
• Slovene: kritika f
• Spanish: crítica (es) f
• Swedish: kritik (sv) c
• Tagalog: pamumuna, panunuri
• Tajik: танқид (tanqid), интиқод (intiqod)
• Thai: ปริทัศน์, คำวิจารณ์, การวิพากษ์
• Turkish: eleştiri (tr), tenkit (tr)
• Turkmen: tankyt
• Ukrainian: кри́тика f (krýtyka)
• Urdu: تنقید‎‎ (tanqīd)
• Uyghur: تەنقىد‎‎ (tenqid)
• Uzbek: tanqid (uz)
• Vietnamese: sự phê bình (vi)
• Yiddish: קריטיק‎‎ f (kritik)

critical review or comment

• Maori: kupu whakahē

References

• “criticism” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2018.
• criticism in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Further reading

• "criticism" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 84.