Expression: "His attitude has become critically negative."

[Tom]

Hi

Could you please tell me if both of the following sentences carry the same meaning?

[Haihao]

Interesting again! I couldn't dig out any difference.

[Jamie (K)]

They could mean the same thing, or...

In the first one, "critically" could mean "to such a degree that it could destroy something", as in being critically injured. So, if he became critically negative, it could (but may not) mean that his attitude became so negative that it threatened his marriage.

In the second one, he's not giving constructive criticism, but just negative criticism, and it's probably not enough to destroy the marriage.

[Haihao]

I think Jamie's explanation is perfect.