critical

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

adj. exacting, captious, censorious, faultfinding, disparaging; judicious, accurate, analytical; decisive; urgent, crucial; dangerous, risky. See disapprobation, importance, detraction.

II

(Roget's IV) modif.

1. [Capable of observing and judging]

Syn. analytical, discriminating, penetrating, perceptive, trenchant, discerning, judging, evaluative, interpretive; see also explanatory , judicious , observant 1 .

2. [Inclined to adverse criticism]

Syn. faultfinding, captious, censorious, hypercritical, inclined to judge with severity, caviling, carping, derogatory, disapproving, judgmental, severe, withering, calumniatory, demanding, satirical, cynical, hairsplitting, quibbling, nitpicking, nagging, scolding, condemning, censuring, reproachful, disparaging, exacting, sharp, cutting, biting, fussy, picky*; see also sarcastic , severe 1 .

Ant. praising, flattering, encouraging.

3. [Dangerous]

Syn. perilous, risky, hazardous; see dangerous 1 .

4. [Crucial]

Syn. decisive, significant, deciding; see crucial , important 1 .

Syn.- critical may imply an attempt at objective judging so as to determine both merits and faults [ a critical review ] , but it often (and hypercritical , always) connotes emphasis on the faults or shortcomings; faultfinding implies a habitual or unreasonable emphasis on faults or defects; captious suggests a characteristic tendency to find fault with, or argue about, even the pettiest details [ a captious critic ] ; caviling stresses the raising of quibbling objections on the most trivial points [ a caviling grammarian ] ; carping suggests peevishness, perversity, or censoriousness in seeking out faults See also Synonym Study at acute .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) a.

1. faultfinding cutting, censorious, carping, *nitpicking, derogatory, disparaging, captious, unflattering, severe, quibbling, disapproving.

2. exacting particular, judicial, discerning, discriminating, fussy, precise, finicky, demanding, hairsplitting. 3.

crucial decisive, serious, grave, important, momentous, significant, pivotal, dire, climacteric, vital, urgent.

ANT.: 1. approving, accepting, complimentary. 2. undiscerning, unparticular, *easy. 3. trivial, insignificant

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) adjective 1. Inclined to judge too severely: captious, carping, censorious, faultfinding, hypercritical, overcritical. See PRAISE. 2. Characterized by careful and exact evaluation: discerning, discriminating. See CAREFUL, VALUE. 3. So serious as to be at the point of crisis or necessary to resolve a crisis: acute, climacteric, crucial, desperate, dire. See SAFETY.