criticism
crit·i·cism/ˈkɹɪtɪsɪzm̩/noun
criticism is spelled C-R-I-T-I-C-I-S-M, 3 syllables: crit·i·cism. The wrong spelling people search most is critisism: about 220 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 12 of all searches for the word. Criticism is a noun meaning “The act of criticising; a critical judgment passed or expressed”. The plural of criticism is criticisms.
How many letters and syllables are in criticism?
| Letters | 9: C-R-I-T-I-C-I-S-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: crit·i·cism |
| In writing | 31 times per million words; the 3,052nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 2; the most searched, critisism, about 220 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell criticism?
Criticism is spelled C-R-I-T-I-C-I-S-M. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 10 of the searches for criticism in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is criticism?
Criticism appears 31 times per million words in written English, the 3,052nd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce criticism?
- /ˈkɹɪtɪsɪzm̩/
Criticism has 3 syllables, split crit·i·cism in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-criticism.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of criticism
- criticisms plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does criticism mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The act of criticising; a critical judgment passed or expressed.
The politician received a lot of public criticism for his controversial stance on the issue.
- 2
A critical observation or detailed examination and review.
The politician received several detailed criticisms of his stance on the issue.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Criticism in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense act of criticising:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | critique |
| German | Kritik, Tadel |
| Portuguese | crítica, criticismo |
| Spanish | crítica, criticismo, animadversión |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does criticism come from?
From critic + -ism.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).