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Examples of diatribe in a Sentence
- … his apparent inability to keep his pen from drifting from the main objective of his words into diatribe must have taken away from the sound and otherwise convincing arguments that he advanced. —Henry Petroski, Engineers of Dreams, 1995
- I looked … and listened to her ahistorical and apolitical diatribe. Her comments were a more extreme form of the kind of Black bashing I've often heard … —Itabari Njeri, "Sushi and Grits," in Lure and Loathing, 1993
- … gradually I realize the headman's diatribe has begun to feature a new term I was unfamiliar with at the time—the word for caterpillar, as it turns out, in the Iban dialect. —T. Coraghessan Boyle, Harper's, April 1993
The article is a diatribe against mainstream media.
a bitter diatribe about how unfair the tax system is
Recent Examples of diatribe from the Web
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Los Angeles Times Backlash: The Pico Rivera City Council voted 3-1 for a resolution calling on Councilman Gregory Salcido to resign after a recent diatribe of his against U.S. military service members was recorded.
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During last year’s Himalayan standoff, the same newspaper launched a series of diatribes against impertinent India.
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Or your feed has turned into a constant flow of political diatribes, endless selfies from friends who love themselves way too much and colleagues who wax groundless conspiracy theories about current events.
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His two-minute diatribe against the press had been watched by 1.5m people within a day of being posted.
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In response, the man launched into a diatribe about the correct distance between a president and the workers, explaining that any variation would intimidate the staff.
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The president's diatribes about Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Rosenstein and the existence of the special counsel have, for most of the White House aides, become a dependable part of the fabric of life working for this president.
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Trump’s State of the Union: A diatribe against immigrants.
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The competition was heightened by fears of nuclear war, a stalemate in the Korean conflict, diatribes of propaganda from Moscow and a fever of anti-Communism in the United States.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'diatribe.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
History of diatribe
In modern times, a diatribe is not something most of us want to endure:
Our manager privately subjected a few of us to a lengthy diatribe about how terrible the company's new policy is.
I'd prefer a reasoned argument to the diatribes that typically litter the newspaper's editorial page.
That wasn't true in the word's early days, though.
When English speakers adopted diatribe in the late 16th century, they were glancing back at the ancients. The word comes from Greek diatribē, meaning "pastime" or "discourse," by way of Latin diatriba. The English word first referred to the popular lectures of ancient Greek and Roman philosophers, the usual topic of which was ethics.
When the word diatribe referred to written work in this context, that work was understood to be either a transcription of such a lecture, or a written development of one. According to some, these oral and written diatribes were the model on which modern sermons were built.
Over time, this very specific meaning of diatribe developed a more general meaning that didn't require the ancients themselves: any prolonged discourse—written or oral—could be considered a diatribe. That sense of the word, however, is now archaic; you don't typically find it in modern contexts.
When diatribe is used today, the connotation is quite different. The word most often refers to a bitter or abusive speech or piece of writing, as in the examples given above.
Origin and Etymology of diatribe
Latin diatriba, from Greek diatribē pastime, discourse, from diatribein to spend (time), wear away, from dia- + tribein to rub — more at 1throw
NEW! Time Traveler
First Known Use: 1581
in the meaning defined at sense 3
See Words from the same yeardiatribe Synonyms
Near Antonyms
encomium, eulogy, panegyric, rhapsody, tribute;
acclaim, acclamation, accolade, citation, homage, honor, praise;
approval, blessing, commendation, endorsement (also indorsement), sanction;
Related Words
assault, attack, broadside, invective, lambasting, lashing, tongue-lashing, vituperation;
berating, chewing out, rebuke, reprimand, reproach, reproof;
abuse, castigation, censure, condemnation, denunciation;
DIATRIBE Defined for English Language Learners
Definition of diatribe for English Language Learners
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: an angry and usually long speech or piece of writing that strongly criticizes someone or something
Learn More about diatribe
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See words that rhyme with diatribe Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for diatribe Spanish Central: Translation of diatribe Nglish: Translation of diatribe for Spanish speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about diatribe
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