Animadversion
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A criticism, a critical remark. countable
"[A] misconstruction or misinterpretation, nay, the misplacing of a comma, was in Gifford's eyes a crime worthy of the most severe animadversion."
- 2 harsh criticism or disapproval wordnet
- 3 The state or characteristic of being animadversive. uncountable
"He was deceived; for justice hath also knowledge and animadversion over such as gather stubble (as the common saying is) or looke about for grape-seed."
Example
More examples"[A] misconstruction or misinterpretation, nay, the misplacing of a comma, was in Gifford's eyes a crime worthy of the most severe animadversion."
Etymology
From Middle French animadversion and its etymon Latin animadversiō (“observation, criticism”), from animadvertō (“I pay attention”), from animus (“mind”) + advertō (“I turn to”).
More for "animadversion"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.