captious criticism
1captious — [kap′shəs] adj. [ME capcious < L captiosus < CAPTION] 1. made only for the sake of argument or faultfinding [captious criticism] 2. fond of catching others in mistakes; quick to find fault; quibbling; carping SYN. CRITICAL captiously adv.… …
2carping — I. a. Cavilling, censorious, captious, hypercritical. II. n. Censure, cavil, fault finding, hyper criticism, captious criticism …
3carp´ing|ly — carp|ing «KAHR pihng», adjective, noun. –adj. that carps; faultfinding; complaining: »that carping spirit in which she had been wont to judge of his actions (Anthony Trollope). SYNONYM(S): censorious, captious. –n. faultfinding; captious… …
4carp|ing — «KAHR pihng», adjective, noun. –adj. that carps; faultfinding; complaining: »that carping spirit in which she had been wont to judge of his actions (Anthony Trollope). SYNONYM(S): censorious, captious. –n. faultfinding; captious criticism:… …
5Momus — humorously disagreeable person, 1560s, from Latin, from Gk. Momos, nme of the god of ridicule and sarcasm (Gk. momos, lit. blame, ridicule, disgrace, of unknown origin); also used in English as personification of fault finding and captious… …
6cavil — n. 1. Frivolous objection, captious criticism, unwarranted censure, carping, censoriousness, wilful censure, objection for objection s sake. 2. Specious objection, specious controversion, specious disputation, sophistry, special pleading …
7hypercriticism — n. Captious criticism …
8needler — ˈnēd(ə)lə(r) noun ( s) Etymology: in sense 1, from needle (I) + er; in other senses from needle (II) + er …
9critical — I (New American Roget s College Thesaurus) adj. exacting, captious, censorious, faultfinding, disparaging; judicious, accurate, analytical; decisive; urgent, crucial; dangerous, risky. See disapprobation, importance, detraction. II (Roget s IV)… …
10faultfinding — I noun persistent petty and unjustified criticism • Syn: ↑carping • Hypernyms: ↑criticism, ↑unfavorable judgment II adjective 1. tending to make moral judgments or judgments based on personal opinions …
