criticize

Etymology

It is formed from English critic + -ize,^[2][3][4][5] or, as the OED also allows, from the Latin source of critic with the same suffix;^[2] the Shorter Oxford forms it like criticism.^[6] The noun critic comes through French critique from criticus (“a judge, censor, critic”),^[3] from Ancient Greek κριτικός (kritikós, “able to judge”),^[3][7][2] from κριτής (kritḗs, “judge”),^[7] from κρίνω (krínō, “to separate, decide, judge”),^[7][3][8] from Proto-Indo-European *krei- (“to sieve”).^[3] Klein relates the Greek verb to cernō (“to sift, distinguish, decide”).^[7][8] An earlier verb critic, from critiquer, is recorded from about 1600.^[3][2] The OED notes that one early spelling suggests a pronunciation with a /k/ before the suffix.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To pass judgement, especially an unfavourable one; to find fault: 1621, in Robert Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy.^[2] Etymonline, Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com date the word to the 1640s, with 1643 as Merriam-Webster's first known use.^[3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

From the start the verb had two sides: judging unfavourably and, in Burton's criticize on or upon, analysing and commenting on a text, a construction obsolete after 1867.^[2] It became transitive in 1652, in Urquhart, to censure a person or thing,^[2] and in 1660 to analyse and evaluate a literary or other work.^[2][3] Etymonline dates the sense "to censure, point out defects" to 1704,^[3] and notes that the noun critic always carried overtones of a fault-finder.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1600 – the earlier verb critic.^[3]
• 1621 – intransitive, to pass judgement, find fault.^[2] Also criticize on, to comment on a text.^[2]
• 1643 – first known use in Merriam-Webster.^[4]
• 1652 – transitive, to censure.^[2]
• 1660 – transitive, to analyse and evaluate a work.^[2][3]
• 1704 – to point out faults in, in Etymonline.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To point out the faults of someone or something; to censure or find fault with: The council was criticized for the delay.^[9][4][2]
2. To judge the good and bad qualities of a work and comment on them; to evaluate or analyse: She criticized her students' essays in detail.^[9][4][2]
3. To find fault, or to act as a critic, without an object: He does nothing but criticize.^[4][2]

Word family

• criticizable
• criticizer
• criticizingly
• uncriticized
• overcriticize
• recriticize
• uncriticizing

Related words

• critic
• critical
• criticism
• critique
• crisis
• criterion

Usage notes

The spelling criticise is also used in British English.^[9][4]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins