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critic

[krit-ik]

noun

a person who judges, evaluates, or criticizes: a poor critic of men.

a person who judges, evaluates, or analyzes literary or artistic works, dramatic or musical performances, or the like, especially for a newspaper or magazine.

a person who tends too readily to make captious, trivial, or harsh judgments; faultfinder.

Archaic.

criticism.

critique.

Origin:
1575–85; < Latin criticus < Greek kritikós skilled in judging (adj.), critic (noun), equivalent to krī́t(ēs) judge, umpire (krī́(nein) to separate, decide + -tēs agent suffix) + -ikos -ic

Related forms

su·per·crit·ic, noun

Can be confused: critic, criticism, critique.

Synonyms
2. reviewer, judge. 3. censurer, carper.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Critic is always a great word to know.

So is callithumpian. Does it mean:

a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.

a fool or simpleton; ninny.

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Example Sentences

From the deluge of art, a critic chooses some standouts.

It is not every day that a literary and cultural critic is immortalized in popular fiction, even a story set in academe.

Neither critic doubts that inequality rose and that poorer people gained access to more credit.

EXPAND

From the deluge of art, a critic chooses some standouts.

It is not every day that a literary and cultural critic is immortalized in popular fiction, even a story set in academe.

Neither critic doubts that inequality rose and that poorer people gained access to more credit.

No one, no even the fiercest critic of modernity, takes offense at them.

It makes you wonder how relevant, exactly, the solo critic is anymore.

His novels made no great impression, but he earned a reputation as an astute literary critic.

Eisman, who made a fortune betting against subprime mortgages, has emerged recently as a vocal critic of for-profit colleges.

There seems to be some serious misunderstanding about what an art critic does.

It's so easy to be the critic when you have no idea how to be actually do the thing you are criticizing.

The difference between me and you, pal, is the difference between the artist and the critic.

It's easy to be a critic but not so easy to actually use your brain to think creatively.

Hermit, thanks for the reasoned critic of my opinion….

Gone are the days when a choreographer saved the critic a trip to the theater by.

Wilson had set up the debate and served as moderator and critic of both the report and my critique of.

More telling, one of the people tapped to head the review was a vocal war critic early.

One critic dismisses it as toy inflation-targeting.

If there was a woman critic of this work let her stand and.

Aufderheide spent years as a film critic and has no formal legal training.

Zinoman is an incisive critic and a born storyteller.

Margalit wouldn't disagree, but he's way ahead of the critic who thinks the logic of compromise is simple.

Yet he is not a despairing critic who sees modern democracy as a sham.

It walks this difficult line by showing that the writer is a reasonable critic who recognizes both strengths and weaknesses.

The old model of the critic as secondary, derivative, even parasitical gave way to the critic as creative and adventuresome.

He is a fierce critic of traditional top-down thinking on aid, by governments and non-governmental organisations alike.

And one critic questioned the logic of signing such a long-term contract in an uncertain media environment.

Yet he's always told me never, ever, to do what he's done-be both an artist and an art critic.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

critic (ˈkrɪtɪk)

—n
1.	a person who judges something
2.	a professional judge of art, music, literature, etc
3.	a person who often finds fault and criticizes

[C16: from Latin criticus, from Greek kritikos capable of judging, from kritēs judge; see criterion]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

critic

1580s, from L. criticus, from Gk. kritikos "able to make judgments," from krinein "to separate, decide" (see crisis). The Eng. word always had overtones of "censurer, faultfinder."

EXPAND

"A perfect judge will read each work of wit
With the same spirit that its author writ;"
[Pope, "An Essay on Criticism," 1709]

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"A severe though not unfriendly critic of our institutions said that "the cure for admiring the House of Lords was to go and look at it.""

-Walter Bagehot

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