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criticize

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verb

American English pronunciation: criticize

/ˈkrɪtɪˌsaɪz/

present tense
I/you/we/they	criticize
he/she/it	criticizes
present participle	criticizing
past tense	criticized
past participle	criticized

Metaphor
Expressing yourself

1
[intransitive/transitive] to say what you think is wrong or bad about something
Cabinet members were told not to criticize the policy publicly.
It was difficult to be honest without seeming to criticize.
criticize someone/something for (doing) something:
The new proposals have been criticized for not going far enough to change the system.
be strongly/severely/widely/sharply/heavily criticized:
Social services were widely criticized for not taking more action to protect children at risk.
Thesaurus entry for this meaning of criticize
2
[transitive] to consider something carefully and judge what the good and bad aspects of it are
Thesaurus entry for this meaning of criticize

Metaphor: criticize

Metaphor

Criticizing someone or speaking in an angry and unpleasant way to them is like hitting or injuring them.

She hit out angrily at the judge's decision.
He lashed out at me, accusing me of not caring.
Their lawyers tore me to pieces/shreds.
They were gunning for me.
Don't beat yourself up over this.
Don't knock what you don't understand.
There's no need to jump down my throat.

➡ angry, argument, feeling

Expressing yourself: criticize

Ways of expressing criticism

I have to say	used when you are going to say something that may annoy or upset someone, especially because it expresses criticism
With respect/With all due respect	used when you are going to disagree with someone or criticize someone, in order to sound more polite
To say the least/To put it mildly	used for suggesting that something is worse or more extreme than you are saying
Shall we say?	used in the middle of a sentence for making a statement or criticism seem less severe or offensive
Don't get me wrong	used when you want to make sure that someone understands your comments correctly, especially when you are criticizing them
How can I put it?/Let me put it this way	used when you are going to say something that is honest but may sound rude or unkind
To be fair/In fairness/To give someone credit	used for making your criticism of someone or something seem less strong by mentioning something good about them

Examples:

I have to say, I found his performance pretty disappointing.

With all due respect, Mr Davies, I think you're being a little unreasonable.

I think his behavior in the meeting was immature, to put it mildly.

The training program seems, shall we say, a little dull.

Don't get me wrong, I do like Christine, I just don't think she's right for you.

Her boyfriend is kind of, how can I put it, hard to get along with. ♦ Let me put it this way, I wouldn't miss her if she left.

Vicki's schoolwork has been poor this term, though, to be fair, her math has improved. ♦ She never calls me, though to give her credit, she always remembers my birthday.

This is the American English definition of criticize. View British English definition of criticize.

Change your default dictionary and thesaurus to British English.

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