Criticess

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A female critic. rare

    "I sighed. “Doubtless you are right, but I will cling to ‘editor’ and ‘author,’ nevertheless, and repeat the esses only when I fear being laughed at.” / “You will regret it,” groaned my mentor. / “Well, then, will this satisfy you?” said I. “That old tyrant, Grammar, has, by the aid of editors and editresses, critics and criticesses, slain his thousands and tens of thousands of authors and authoresses, scribblers and scribbleresses.”"

Example

More examples

"I sighed. “Doubtless you are right, but I will cling to ‘editor’ and ‘author,’ nevertheless, and repeat the esses only when I fear being laughed at.” / “You will regret it,” groaned my mentor. / “Well, then, will this satisfy you?” said I. “That old tyrant, Grammar, has, by the aid of editors and editresses, critics and criticesses, slain his thousands and tens of thousands of authors and authoresses, scribblers and scribbleresses.”"

Etymology

From critic + -ess.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.