List of 426 Sets of Synonyms - How they Differ - Total of 2307 Words - 93

SYNONYMS: criticize, blame, reprehend, censure, condemn, denounce.
These verbs are compared as they mean to express an unfavorable judgment.

Criticize can mean merely to evaluate good and bad points without necessarily finding fault: To criticize is to appreciate, to appropriate, to take intellectual possession. Usually, however, the word implies the expression of disapproval: The reviewer roundly criticized the novel.
Blame emphasizes the finding of fault and the fixing of responsibility: People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are.
Reprehend implies sharp disapproval: reprehends "students who have protested apartheid" (New York Times).
Censure refers to open and strong expression of criticism; often it implies a formal reprimand: No man can justly censure or condemn another, because indeed no man truly knows another.
Condemn denotes the pronouncement of harshly adverse judgment: Then, Jesus said "neither do I condemn you".
Denounce implies public proclamation of condemnation or repudiation: The press denounces clandestine support for the counterrevolution.