critic
/ˈkrɪtɪk
/noun
1A person who expresses an unfavourable opinion of something: critics of the new legislation say it is too broad...
- In his last decade, Irving had to endure the sceptical opinions of a new and young breed of critics.
- At the time, critics attacked the show for pandering to the middle class fear of a right wing police state.
- Sadly it has been used by too many people as a weapon to attack their critics with.
Synonyms
detractor, censurer, attacker, fault-finder, carper, backbiter, caviller, reviler, vilifier, traducer, disparager, denigrator, deprecator, belittler
informal knocker, nitpicker
rare asperser
2A person who judges the merits of literary or artistic works, especially one who does so professionally: a theatre critic...
- She worked first as a news reporter, then feature writer, film critic and agony aunt.
- This is also true of newspaper critics who cover the arts, films, music, and books.
- His films have divided critics and commentators like those of no other American director.
Synonyms
commentator, observer, monitor, pundit, expert, authority, arbiter, interpreter, exponent, expounder;
writer, author, speaker;
reviewer, appraiser, evaluator, analyst, judge
rare scholiast, exegete
Origin
Late 16th century: from Latin criticus, from Greek kritikos, from kritēs 'a judge', from krinein 'judge, decide'.