fault-finding

This term carries a strong negative connotation, suggesting a pedantic or obsessive focus on minor errors rather than a constructive desire for improvement. It describes a personality trait or a behavior that is perceived as irritating, unfair, or demoralizing to those being criticized.

As a noun, the word is uncountable. It refers to a general habit or a continuous state of behavior rather than individual instances of criticism. Consequently, it cannot be pluralized and requires partitive constructions like "a streak of fault-finding" or "an instance of fault-finding" when referring to specific occurrences.