Definition of "criticism" []

• The act of criticizing, especially adversely. (noun)
• A critical comment or judgment. (noun)
• The practice of analyzing, classifying, interpreting, or evaluating literary or other artistic works. (noun)
• A critical article or essay; a critique. (noun)
• The investigation of the origin and history of literary documents; textual criticism. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Honest and earnest criticism from those whose interests are most nearly touched, —criticism of writers by readers, of government by those governed, of leaders by those led, —this is the soul of democracy and the safeguard of modern society."
• "My main criticism is that the movie fails to make the distinction between real experiment and thought experiment."
• "The pursuit of complexity in criticism is one thing, and it is certainly true all critics need not be generalists, hoping one day to reach even that reader of U.S.A. Today."