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brinkmanship (n.)[brinkmanship 词源字典]: also brinksmanship, with parasitic -s- and construction based on salesmanship, sportsmanship, etc.; from brink (the image of the brink of war dates to at least 1840).

Associated with the policies advocated by John Foster Dulles (1888-1959), U.S. Secretary of State 1953-1959. The word springs from Dulles' philosophy as outlined in a magazine interview [with Time-Life Washington bureau chief James Shepley] early 1956:
The ability to get to the verge without getting into the war is the necessary art. If you cannot master it, you inevitably get into war. If you try to run away from it, if you are scared to go to the brink, you are lost.
The quote was widely criticized by the Eisenhower Administration's opponents, and the first attested use of brinkmanship seems to have been in such a context, a few weeks after the magazine appeared, by Democratic presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson criticizing Dulles for "boasting of his brinkmanship, ... the art of bringing us to the edge of the nuclear abyss."[brinkmanship etymology, brinkmanship origin, 英语词源]
censorious (adj.): "fond of criticizing," 1530s, from Latin censorius "pertaining to a censor," also "rigid, severe," from censor (see censor (n.)). Related: Censoriously; censoriousness.
criticism (n.): c. 1600, "action of criticizing," from critic + -ism. Meaning "art of estimating literary worth" is from 1670s.
criticize (v.): 1640s, "to pass judgment on something" (usually unfavorable), from critic + -ize. Meaning "to discuss critically" is from 1660s; that of "to censure" is from 1704. Related: Criticized; criticizing.
sesquipedalian (n.): 1610s, "person or thing a foot and a half long," from Latin sesquipedalia "a foot-and-a-half long," from sesqui- "half as much again" (see sesqui-) + stem of pes "foot," from PIE root *ped- (1) "a foot" (see foot (n.)). As an adjective 1650s. Meaning "sesquipedalian word" (1830) is from Latin sesquipedalia verba "words a foot-and-a-half long," in Horace's "Ars Poetica" (97), nicely illustrating the thing he is criticizing.
swift-boat: "Target (a politician or public figure) with a campaign of personal attacks", 2004: with allusion to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a political action committee that funded an advertising campaign criticizing 2004 US presidential candidate Senator John Kerry's record of military service aboard a swift boat, a type of US Navy patrol craft, during the Vietnam War.