screed

noun

ˈskrēd 

1

a

: a lengthy discourse

b

: an informal piece of writing (such as a personal letter)

c

: a ranting piece of writing

2

: a strip (as of a plaster of the thickness planned for the coat) laid on as a guide

3

: a leveling device drawn over freshly poured concrete

Examples of screed in a Sentence

In her screed against the recording industry, she blamed her producer for ruining her career.

Recent Examples on the Web

Coughlin used the new medium of radio in the 1930s to bypass traditional gatekeepers and reach millions of people directly with his nativist, antisemitic and pro-Nazi screeds. — Donie O'Sullivan, CNN Money, 6 June 2026

The Ivy League school graduate reportedly struggled with chronic back pain and allegedly gave a four-star review to Theodore Kaczynski’s screed, Industrial Society and Its Future, best known as the Unabomber manifesto. — Cheyenne Roundtree, Rolling Stone, 4 June 2026

While not exactly a feminist screed, the script grants nary a free pass to the glut of hackneyed gender conventions in the golden-age canon without at least cracking a joke. — Naveen Kumar, Variety, 21 Apr. 2026

But the rocker’s screed contained a truth, one that has substantially shaped the contemporary ticket-buying panopticon. — Paula Mejía, New Yorker, 21 Apr. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English screde fragment, alteration of Old English scrēade — more at shred entry 1

First Known Use

1748, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Rhymes for screed

• bead
• bleed
• brede
• breed
• cede
• creed
• deed
• feed
• freed
• greed
• heed
• keyed