critic

critic
    n 1: a person who is professionally engaged in the analysis and
         interpretation of works of art
    2: anyone who expresses a reasoned judgment of something
    3: someone who frequently finds fault or makes harsh and unfair
       judgments
    

Critic \Crit"ic\ (kr[i^]t"[i^]k), n. [L. criticus, Gr.
   kritiko`s, a critic; prop., an adj. meaning able to discuss,
   from kri`nein to judge, discern. See {Certain}, and cf.
   {Critique}.]
   1. One skilled in judging of the merits of literary or
      artistic works; a connoisseur; an adept; hence, one who
      examines literary or artistic works, etc., and passes
      judgment upon them; a reviewer.
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            The opininon of the most skillful critics was, that
            nothing finer [than Goldsmith's "Traveler"] had
            appeared in verse since the fourth book of the
            "Dunciad."                            --Macaulay.
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   2. One who passes a rigorous or captious judgment; one who
      censures or finds fault; a harsh examiner or judge; a
      caviler; a carper.
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            When an author has many beauties consistent with
            virtue, piety, and truth, let not little critics
            exalt themselves, and shower down their ill nature.
                                                  --I. Watts.
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            You know who the critics are? the men who have
            failed in literature and art.         --Beaconsfield.
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   3. The art of criticism. [Obs.] --Locke.
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   4. An act of criticism; a critique. [Obs.]
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            And make each day a critic on the last. --Pope.
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Critic \Crit"ic\, a.
   Of or pertaining to critics or criticism; critical. [Obs.]
   "Critic learning." --Pope.
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Critic \Crit"ic\, v. i. [Cf. F. critiquer.]
   To criticise; to play the critic. [Obs.]

   Syn: critique.
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              Nay, if you begin to critic once, we shall never
              have done.                          --A. Brewer.
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Critique \Cri*tique"\ (kr[i^]*t[=e]k"), n. [F. critique, f., fr.
   Gr. kritikh` (sc. te`chnh) the critical art, from kritiko`s.
   See {Critic}.]
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   1. The art of criticism. [Written also {critic}.] [R.]
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   2. A critical examination or estimate of a work of literature
      or art; a critical dissertation or essay; a careful and
      thorough analysis of any subject; a criticism; as, Kant's
      "Critique of Pure Reason."
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            I should as soon expect to see a critique on the
            poesy of a ring as on the inscription of a medal.
                                                  --Addison.
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   3. A critic; one who criticises. [Obs.]
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            A question among critiques in the ages to come.
                                                  --Bp. Lincoln.
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CRITIC, n.  A person who boasts himself hard to please because nobody
tries to please him.

    There is a land of pure delight,
        Beyond the Jordan's flood,
    Where saints, apparelled all in white,
        Fling back the critic's mud.

    And as he legs it through the skies,
        His pelt a sable hue,
    He sorrows sore to recognize
        The missiles that he threw.
                                                            Orrin Goof
    

164 Moby Thesaurus words for "critic":
      advertising writer, aficionado, allegorist, amateur, annalist,
      annotator, arbiter, arbiter elegantiarum, arbiter of taste,
      art critic, author, authoress, authority, belittler, belletrist,
      bibliographer, bon vivant, book reviewer, buff, captious,
      captious critic, carper, carping, caviler, caviling, censor,
      censorious, censurer, cicerone, clarifier, coauthor, cognoscente,
      collaborator, collector, columnist, commentator, commenter,
      common scold, compiler, complainer, composer, connaisseur,
      connoisseur, copywriter, creative writer, criticaster, criticizer,
      critickin, criticule, cryptanalyst, cryptographer, cryptologist,
      dance critic, decoder, definer, demonstrator, demythologizer,
      diarist, diaskeuast, dilettante, disparager, dragoman,
      drama critic, dramatist, editor, editorial writer, editorialist,
      emendator, emender, encyclopedist, epicure, epicurean, essayist,
      euhemerist, exegesist, exegete, exegetist, expert, explainer,
      explicator, exponent, expositor, expounder, fan, faultfinder,
      faultfinding, freak, free lance, free-lance writer, frondeur,
      ghost, ghostwriter, glossarist, glossographer, go-between,
      good judge, gourmand, gourmet, guide, hermeneut, humorist,
      hypercritical, inditer, interpreter, judge, knocker, leader writer,
      lexicographer, literary artist, literary craftsman,
      literary critic, literary man, litterateur, logographer,
      magazine writer, man of letters, maven, metaphrast, momus,
      monographer, muckraker, mudslinger, music critic, news analyst,
      newspaperman, nitpicker, novelettist, novelist, nut, oneirocritic,
      overcritical, pamphleteer, paraphrast, penwoman, pettifogger, poet,
      prose writer, publicist, pundit, quibbler, refined palate,
      reviewer, savant, scenario writer, scenarist, scholar, scholiast,
      scold, scribe, scriptwriter, short-story writer, smellfungus,
      social critic, specialist, storyteller, technical expert,
      technical writer, technician, textual critic, translator, virtuoso,
      word painter, wordsmith, writer

    

CRITIC

Dramatic, a notorious prevaricator who tells the world
to see all the shows, and thus preserves the advertising column
for his employers.