critique means the art of criticism. It carries an Arena rating of 1340, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, critique ranks #515 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #1,131 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #5,888 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #5,935 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words.
critique is pronounced /kɹɪˈtiːk/.
Why “critique” is a great word
A detailed analysis and assessment of something, especially a literary, philosophical, or political work. From French critique, from New Latin critica ("critique"), from Greek kritikē (short for kritikē tekhnē, "the critical art"), from kritikos ("able to discern, critical"), from krinein ("to separate, decide, judge"), first recorded in English 1695–1705. Unlike "criticism," which often implies blunt censure, or the pure praise of an "accolade," a true critique dissects with a scalpel, weighing faults against merits on the same analytical scale. It is the surgeon’s light thrown upon a poem’s anatomy, the philosopher’s patient weighing of an argument’s premises, and the archivist’s measured assessment of a document’s silences as much as its pronouncements—an act of respect that assumes the work deserves not mere reaction, but the harder labor of genuine understanding.
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from French critique, from New Latin critica (“critique”), feminine of criticus (“critical”); see critic.
noun
- The art of criticism.
- An essay in which another piece of work is criticized, reviewed, etc.
- A point made to criticize something.e.g.“Bob liked most of my presentation, but offered three minor critiques.”
verb
- To review something; to criticize.e.g.“I want you to critique this new idea of mine.”
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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