criticize
Formscriticizes, criticizing, criticized
UK spellingcriticise
- 1To point out the faults or problems in someone or something.
Reviewers criticized the film for its slow pacing and thin plot.
It's easy to criticize decisions made under pressure.
Similarcensure
Oppositepraise, commend, applaud, compliment
Note
The everyday, fault-finding sense, and the one most readers hear first. It usually takes a person or thing as its object and names the fault with for, as in criticized him for endangering people's lives, but it can also stand alone without an object. The -ize spelling serves both American English and the Oxford style of British English, so it is safe in either variety.
- 2To evaluate something carefully, weighing both its merits and its faults.
Scholars criticize the novel as both a social document and a work of art.
She was trained to criticize architecture, weighing function against beauty.
Similarjudge, appraise, censure
Note
Judging in the root sense of the word: Greek kritikós meant "able to discern," from krísis, "decision, judgment." Here the verb weighs strengths as well as weaknesses, as a reviewer or scholar does, and it can stand without an object. Because the fault-finding meaning dominates everyday speech, reach for appraise or a framing like "criticize it as a work of art" when you want evaluation heard, not complaint.
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Origin
Formed from critic + -ize, with critic coming from Ancient Greek kritikós ('able to judge or discern'), from krísis ('decision, judgment').