Definition of criticism
1a
: the act of criticizing usually unfavorably
seeking encouragement rather than criticism
b
: a critical observation or remark
an unfair criticism had a minor criticism of the design
c
: critique
2
: the art of evaluating or analyzing works of art or literature
also
: writings expressing such evaluation or analysis
an anthology of literary criticism
3
: the scientific investigation of literary documents (such as the Bible) in regard to such matters as origin, text, composition, or history
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Merriam-Webster unabridged
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Time Traveler for criticism
The first known use of criticism was in 1607
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