The article deals with the evaluative vocabulary used in modern German language criticism. The author gives examples of adjectives and other parts of speech from the texts relating to different directions of language criticism, within the framework of which either words that are politically incorrect or words and expressions that do not correspond to the grammatical and lexical norms of the German language are the object of criticism. Some characteristic features of language criticism in earlier periods, namely during National Socialism, are also described. At the same time, the paper notes that it is possible to implement language criticism through the text of a work of fiction. The use of a metaphor as a means of assessing criticized phenomena is analyzed.