censorious

adjective

cen·​so·​ri·​ous sen-ˈsȯr-ē-əs 

: marked by or given to censure (see censure entry 1 sense 2)

censorious comments

a censorious critic

censoriously adverb

censoriousness noun

Choose the Right Synonym for censorious

critical, hypercritical, faultfinding, captious, carping, censorious mean inclined to look for and point out faults and defects.

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 censorious in a Sentence

The stunt earned her the scorn of her censorious older sister.

I was surprised by the censorious tone of the book review.

Recent Examples on the Web

When pressed, many of these young men seem to have bought the pitch that, of the two parties, the Republicans were the less censorious. —Andrew Marantz, The New Yorker, 17 Mar. 2025

Yet the efforts sparked protests from more than 115,000 websites, including the likes of Google and Reddit, as well as their users, who expressed concerns that the site-blocking power went too far and could be overly censorious. —Michael McCann, Sportico.com, 3 Sep. 2019

Hamas immediately rejected the suggestion, and the global reaction was sharply censorious. —Natasha Frost, New York Times, 5 Feb. 2025

To me, the events surrounding the removal of Mann’s photographs echo those of a censorious past. —Amy Werbel, The Conversation, 24 Jan. 2025

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Latin cēnsōrius "of a censor, severe," derivative of cēnsor censor entry 1

First Known Use

1536, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for censorious

• jeremias
• zacharias
• dryas
• laius
• lyase
• mayas
• pious
• playas
• prius
• elias
• impious
• messias