critique
verb · noun
Simple meaning
A careful review that points out strengths and weaknesses.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kruhteekSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
kɹəˈtik
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
To review something; to criticize.
noun
countable
An essay in which another piece of work is criticized, reviewed, etc.
countable
A point made to criticize something.
uncountable
The art of criticism.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: An essay in which another piece of work is criticized, reviewed, etc.
Used this way, critique is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use critique
- “The professor offered a helpful critique of my essay draft.”
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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: essay in which another piece of work is criticized
Say it better
Looking for a more precise alternative? “critique” can mean several things.
The opening works; the middle section loses the thread for me. Could we cut the second example?I'd keep the intro and rework the middle, it's doing two jobs at once.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.