Phrase guide

textual criticism

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

A field of scholarly enquiry dedicated to reconstructing the oldest form(s) of a text that is or are possible to retrieve and to explaining any attested variants.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: lower criticism

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

comparison of a particular text with related materials in order to establish authenticity

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: criticism, literary criticism

Narrower terms: higher criticism, lower criticism, Masorah, Masora

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

19 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: tekskritiek — discipline for reconstructing old text forms
  • Chinese Mandarin: 校勘學 /校勘学 (jiàokānxué) — discipline for reconstructing old text forms
  • Danish: tekstkritik — discipline for reconstructing old text forms
  • Dutch: tekstkritiek — discipline for reconstructing old text forms
  • Esperanto: tekstkritiko — discipline for reconstructing old text forms
  • Finnish: tekstikritiikki — discipline for reconstructing old text forms
  • French: critique textuelle — discipline for reconstructing old text forms
  • German: Textkritik — discipline for reconstructing old text forms
  • Greek: κριτική κειμένου (kritikí keiménou) — discipline for reconstructing old text forms
  • Indonesian: kritik teks — discipline for reconstructing old text forms
  • Italian: critica testuale — discipline for reconstructing old text forms
  • Latin: critica textualis — discipline for reconstructing old text forms
  • Norwegian Bokmål: tekstkritikk — discipline for reconstructing old text forms
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: tekstkritikk — discipline for reconstructing old text forms
  • Polish: tekstologia — discipline for reconstructing old text forms
  • Polish: krytyka tekstu — discipline for reconstructing old text forms
  • Portuguese: crítica textual — discipline for reconstructing old text forms
  • Spanish: crítica textual — discipline for reconstructing old text forms
  • Swedish: textkritik — discipline for reconstructing old text forms