criticaster means A petty or charlatan critic. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why “criticaster” is a great word
CRITICASTER — [Noun] A petty, inferior, or incompetent critic. From critic (from Latin criticus, from Greek kritikós, "able to discern or judge") + the pejorative suffix -aster (from Latin, indicating inferiority or incomplete resemblance). First recorded in English use 1669–1675. Unlike a critic, which implies learned judgment, or a censor, which wields prohibitive power, the criticaster is defined by a venomous insufficiency. He is the carping whisper in a crowded theatre, the inkblot of spite in a magazine's margins, the smug correction of a poet’s perceived grammatical liberty—a testament to the peculiar poverty of spirit that finds its only power in diminishment.
Etymology
From critic + -aster.
noun
- A petty or charlatan critic.“[H]e rather overdoes it, and so puzzles his enemies in the play, and certain German criticasters and English mad doctors in the closet, and does not puzzle his bosom friend in the play one bit, nor the pit for whom he was created.”