critique
Pronunciation
Etymology
It is borrowed from French critique,[2][3][4] from Ancient Greek κριτική (kritikḗ), short for the phrase κριτική (kritikḗ) τέχνη (tékhnē, “art”), "the critical art",[5][6][3] the feminine of κριτικός (kritikós, “able to judge, critical”).[5][2][6] The OED, revising the entry in 2022, traces its first English use (1647) to New Latin criticus, the title of the fifth book of Julius Caesar Scaliger's Poetics (1561), and its later use to French.[7] Etymonline and Barnhart treat it as the restored French spelling of critick, used for "the art of criticism" from 1656;[8][5] Merriam-Webster likewise calls it an alteration of that word influenced by French.[9]
Earliest recorded meaning
A piece of writing in which a text or work is analysed or judged, a critical essay: 1647, in R. Stapleton's translation of Musaeus.[7]
Semantic evolution
By 1656 the word could mean any act of passing judgement, often an unfavourable one, and by 1690, in Locke, the art or practice of criticism.[7] According to Barnhart, it was Addison who brought critique into use in 1702, in his dialogue on ancient medals, and Pope changed critick to critique in The Dunciad (1729), after which Cowper, Byron and others made it common.[5] Webster (1828) still gave critique and critic side by side for a critical examination of a performance.[10] From 1798, in writing on Kant's critical philosophy, a critique could also be an examination of the foundations of a theory or system.[7] The verb, first used of reviewing a literary work, was extended in the United States to assessing a person's performance (1950) and examining a theory (1951).[7]
Timeline
- 1647 – a critical essay or review.[7]
- 1656 – an act of passing judgement,[7] and critick as the art of criticism.[5]
- 1690 – the art or practice of criticism, in Locke.[7]
- 1702 – Addison uses the spelling critique.[5][8]
- 1729 – Pope alters critick to critique in The Dunciad.[5]
- 1751 – the verb, to write a critique of; the OED's revised entry dates it to 1752.[8][9][7]
- 1798 – an examination of the foundations of a theory or system.[7]
- 1950 – (US) to assess a person's performance.[7]
Modern meaning
Noun
- A detailed critical assessment of something, especially a literary or artistic work; a review.
- The art or practice of criticism.
- An analysis of the basic assumptions of a theory, doctrine or system: a feminist critique of classical economics.
Verb
- To evaluate something in a detailed and analytical way: The panel critiqued each design in turn.
- (originally US) To assess a person's work or performance.
Related words
Usage notes
Critique has been used as a verb since the 18th century, but it spread widely only in the 20th, partly because criticize had come to suggest mainly disapproval; the American Heritage usage panel found that many readers still dislike the verb as pretentious jargon.[2]
References
- ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
- ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
- ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ Webster, Noah (1828), An American Dictionary of the English Language, New York: S. Converse