tirade

tirade, *diatribe, jeremiad, philippic can all mean a violent, often long-winded, and usually denunciatory speech or writing. Tirade implies a swift emission of heated language, sometimes critical, sometimes abusive, but usually long-continued and directed against persons or things that the speaker or writer believes worthy of castigation

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screaming a tirade of protest and rage— Davenport

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the King . . . had ... to impose silence on the tirades which were delivered from the University pulpit— J. R. Green

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Diatribe carries a stronger implication of bitterness and, often, of long-windedness than tirade

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a rambling, bitter diatribe on the wrongs and sufferings of the laborers— Kingsley

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a diatribe in some . . . paper which neglected to mention what I had said, it merely indicated that it had been awful— Mailer

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Jeremiad stresses the implication of dolefulness or lugubriousness, but it usually applies to a diatribe in that strain

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a jeremiad against a civilization that values knowledge above wisdom— Durrell

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Philippic applies to an oration or harangue that constitutes a denunciatory attack filled with acrimonious invective and often directed against a public person, a way of life, an aggressive power, or some dictatorial assumption

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gave full rein to his mingled exasperation and boredom in a philippic so withering that it roused a lethargic Senate— S. H. Adams

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delivered a violent philippic against democracy— S. R. L.

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Analogous words: harangue, oration, *speech: invective, vituperation, *abuse: denunciation, censure, condemnation (see corresponding verbs at CRITICIZE)

Antonyms: eulogy