the act of passing judgment as to the merits of anything.

the act of passing severe judgment; censure; faultfinding.

the act or art of analyzing and evaluating or judging the quality of a literary or artistic work, musical performance, art exhibit, dramatic production, etc.

a critical comment, article, or essay; critique.

any of various methods of studying texts or documents for the purpose of dating or reconstructing them, evaluating their authenticity, analyzing their content or style, etc.

historical criticism; literary criticism.

investigation of the text, origin, etc., of literary documents, esp. Biblical ones

textual criticism.

noun

estimation , guess , supposition , approval , compliment , praise

noun

appraisal , appreciation , assessment , comment , commentary , critique , elucidation , essay , estimate , evaluation , examination , exposition , judgment , notice , observation , opinion , pan * , rating , rave * , review , reviewal , scorcher , sideswipe , sleighride , study , write-upnotes:a criticism is an evaluation or judgment of something , while critique is a somewhat elevated term for the same thing; review is used as a synonym for these but may also imply a more comprehensive study , animadversion , aspersion , bad press , blast , brickbats , bronx cheer , call down * , carping , cavil , caviling , censure , critical remarks , cut * , denunciation , disparagement , faultfinding , flak * , hit * , knock * , nit-picking , objection , opprobrium , pan , panning , put down , quibble , rap on knuckles , reproof , roast * , slam * , slap * , slap on wrist , static , stricture , swipe * , vitriol , zappernotes:a criticism is an evaluation or judgment of something , condemnation , reprehension , reprobation , blame , disapproval , flak , knock