NOUN (3)

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;

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

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.
      [1913 Webster]

            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.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. One who passes a rigorous or captious judgment; one who
      censures or finds fault; a harsh examiner or judge; a
      caviler; a carper.
      [1913 Webster]

            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.
      [1913 Webster]

            You know who the critics are? the men who have
            failed in literature and art.         --Beaconsfield.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. The art of criticism. [Obs.] --Locke.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. An act of criticism; a critique. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

            And make each day a critic on the last. --Pope.
      [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Critic \Crit"ic\, a.
   Of or pertaining to critics or criticism; critical. [Obs.]
   "Critic learning." --Pope.
   [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Critic \Crit"ic\, v. i. [Cf. F. critiquer.]
   To criticise; to play the critic. [Obs.]

   Syn: critique.
        [1913 Webster]

              Nay, if you begin to critic once, we shall never
              have done.                          --A. Brewer.
        [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

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.]
   [1913 Webster]
   1. The art of criticism. [Written also critic.] [R.]
      [1913 Webster]

   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."
      [1913 Webster]

            I should as soon expect to see a critique on the
            poesy of a ring as on the inscription of a medal.
                                                  --Addison.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. A critic; one who criticises. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

            A question among critiques in the ages to come.
                                                  --Bp. Lincoln.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

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

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

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



The Devil's Dictionary (1881-1906):

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