jeremiad

noun

jer·​e·​mi·​ad ˌjer-ə-ˈmī-əd 

-ˌad

: a prolonged lamentation or complaint

also : a cautionary or angry harangue

the warnings became jeremiads against the folly of overemphasis on science and technology at the expense of man's subjective and emotional life

—Ada Louise Huxtable

Did you know?

Jeremiah was a Jewish prophet, who lived from about 650 to 570 B.C. and spent his days lambasting the Hebrews for their false worship and social injustice and denouncing the king for his selfishness, materialism, and inequities. When not calling on his people to quit their wicked ways, he was lamenting his own lot; a portion of the biblical Book of Jeremiah is devoted to his "confessions," a series of lamentations on the hardships endured by a prophet with an unpopular message. Nowadays, English speakers use Jeremiah for a pessimistic person and jeremiad for the way these Jeremiahs carry on. The word jeremiad was borrowed from the French, who coined it as jérémiade.

Synonyms

• diatribe
• harangue
• philippic
• rant
• tirade

Examples of jeremiad in a Sentence

a jeremiad against the political apathy shown by so many young people

Recent Examples on the Web

Bruce Springsteen has escalated his beef with Donald Trump, dropping an entire live EP of anti-Trump jeremiads. —Bethy Squires, Vulture, 21 May 2025

Hay dashed off another jeremiad to their associates. —Kate Knibbs, Wired News, 20 May 2025

The jeremiads against gambling as a corrupting influence have conveniently quieted. — Made By History, TIME, 20 Mar. 2025

That’s not something that can be addressed fully in anything but the most jeremiad-esque of think pieces. —Bethy Squires, Vulture, 13 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

French jérémiade, from Jérémie Jeremiah, from Late Latin Jeremias

First Known Use

1780, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for jeremiad

• sayyid

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