Criticise

How to spell criticise

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce criticise

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does criticise mean?

1. verbTo express disapproval of someone or something, or to assess its faults and merits.

Criticise in a sentence

• Managers should not criticise staff in front of customers.

• Reviewers tend to criticise the film for its slow pacing.

Where does criticise come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word descends from the Greek kritikos, meaning 'able to discern or judge', which itself came from krites 'a judge' and the verb krinein 'to separate, decide, or judge'. Latin took it in as criticus, and the noun 'critic' reached English in the late 1500s for someone who passes judgement, especially on literature or art. The verb form 'criticise' was built on that noun in the 1600s, originally simply meaning 'to analyse or judge the merits of something', a neutral act rather than a hostile one. Only later did the everyday sense narrow toward finding fault and expressing disapproval. The root krinein also sits behind 'crisis', 'criterion', and 'critique', a family that all turns on the idea of judging and deciding; the British -ise ending here follows the French-influenced pattern rather than the Greek-flavoured -ize, which is the usual spelling trap for this word.

How the word is built

• critic (from Greek kritikos: able to judge)
• -ise (verb-forming suffix, British spelling)

British and American spelling

Criticise is the British spelling. American English spells it criticize.