【Critical】 , 【hypercritical】 , 【faultfinding】 , 【captious】 ,  【caviling】 , 【carping】 , 【censorious】 are comparable when they mean exhibiting the spirit of one who detects and points out faults or defects.

【Critical】 , when applied to persons who judge and to their judgments, is the one of these terms that may imply an effort to see a thing clearly, truly, and impartially so that not only the good in it may be distinguished from the bad and the perfect from the imperfect, but also that it as a whole may be fairly judged or valued.

【Critical】 may also imply a keen awareness of faults or imperfections with often the suggestion of loss of fairness in judgment.

When this loss of fairness is to be implied or when the judge's undue awareness of defects and overemphasis of them is to be suggested, writers often prefer  【hypercritical】 to 【critical】 .

【Faultfinding】 sometimes takes the place of 【critical】 , sometimes of 【hypercritical】 , but usually suggests less background, less experience, or less fastidiousness than either; it is therefore frequently used when an unreasonably exacting or a querulous temperament is also to be suggested.

【Captious】 implies a readiness, usually a temperamental readiness, to detect trivial faults or to take exceptions on slight grounds, because one is either unduly exacting or perversely hard to please.

【Caviling】 usually implies a 【captious】 disposition but stresses the habit or act of raising picayune or petty objections.

【Carping】 , far more than 【hypercritical】 or 【faultfinding】 , implies illnatured or perverse picking of flaws and often in addition suggests undue emphasis upon them as blameworthy.

【Censorious】 implies a disposition or a tendency to be both severely 【critical】 and condemnatory of what one criticizes.