textual criticism

textual criticism

n.

1. The study of manuscripts or printings to determine the original or most authoritative form of a text, especially of a piece of literature.

2. Literary criticism stressing close reading and detailed analysis of a particular text.

---

textual criticism

the close study of a particular literary work in order to establish its original text. — textual critic, n.

See also: Criticism

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

textual criticism - comparison of a particular text with related materials in order to establish authenticity literary criticism, criticism - a written evaluation of a work of literature higher criticism - the scientific study of biblical writings to determine their origin and meaning lower criticism - the study of existing manuscripts of the Scriptures in order to determine the original text Masora, Masorah - a vast body of textual criticism of the Hebrew Scriptures including notes on features of writing and on the occurrence of certain words and on variant sources and instructions for pronunciation and other comments that were written between AD 600 and 900 by Jewish scribes in the margins or at the end of texts