critical may also imply an effort to see a thing clearly and truly in order to judge it fairly.
a critical essay
hypercritical suggests a tendency to judge by unreasonably strict standards.
hypercritical disparagement of other people's work
faultfinding implies a querulous or exacting temperament.
a faultfinding reviewer
captious suggests a readiness to detect trivial faults or raise objections on trivial grounds.
a captious critic
carping implies an ill-natured or perverse picking of flaws.
a carping editorial
censorious implies a disposition to be severely critical and condemnatory.
the censorious tone of the review
Examples of carping in a Sentence
a peevish and carping old woman who is not a favorite at the nursing home
Recent Examples on the WebBut the novel as a whole suggests that Clinton is all too well acquainted with resentment against carping critics and burdensome bureaucracies.—Adam Kirsch, The Atlantic, 16 June 2018
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'carping.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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