critical may also imply an effort to see a thing clearly and truly in order to judge it fairly.
a critical essay
hypercritical suggests a tendency to judge by unreasonably strict standards.
hypercritical disparagement of other people's work
faultfinding implies a querulous or exacting temperament.
a faultfinding reviewer
captious suggests a readiness to detect trivial faults or raise objections on trivial grounds.
a captious critic
carping implies an ill-natured or perverse picking of flaws.
a carping editorial
censorious implies a disposition to be severely critical and condemnatory.
the censorious tone of the review
Example Sentences
The stunt earned her the scorn of her censorious older sister. I was surprised by the censorious tone of the book review.
Recent Examples on the WebIronically, like every such censorious effort, Drs.WSJ, 17 May 2022 That’s because, according to a letter New York’s Office of Cannabis Management sent TikTok this week and shared exclusively with Rolling Stone, the notoriously censorious platform won’t allow it. Andrea Marks, Rolling Stone, 26 May 2022 Broadly speaking, Musk has said that Twitter is a censorious entity that has too many stringent rules about what its users can post on the platform. Scott Nover, Quartz, 10 May 2022 Now Musk is earning more affection in the heartland for his latest gambit: purchasing Twitter for $44 billion, carrying coastal elites kicking and screaming into a bold new era for the censorious social giant. Dale Buss, Forbes, 1 May 2022 Musk’s argument is that under this method of corporate accountability, Twitter has lost its way and become censorious; that the company needs to hand power to a benevolent dictator — himself — to bring freedom back for more users. Matt Pearcestaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 15 Apr. 2022 Better to provoke students with his censorious antagonist, James Fitzjames Stephen. Samuel Goldman, The Week, 21 Mar. 2022 The woke left may be the new religious right: preachy, censorious, humorless, judgmental, constantly policing popular culture for impure thoughts. W. James Antle Iii, The Week, 18 Feb. 2022 Since beginning on the South Side of Chicago in the early 2010s, drill music has frequently been criticized by censorious listeners who see its bleak sounds and menacing lyrics as dangerous. Simon Vozick-levinson, Rolling Stone, 11 Feb. 2022 See More
Word History
Etymology
borrowed from Latin cēnsōrius "of a censor, severe," derivative of cēnsorcensor entry 1