philippic
noun
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In 351 B.C., the Greek orator Demosthenes delivered a fiery speech warning his countrymen against the imperialistic designs of Philip II, king of Macedon, and chastising them for their timidity and inaction. In Greek, this and subsequent such speeches on the subject made by Demosthenes were known as philippikoi logoi, literally, "speeches relating to Philip." Demosthenes is known to have delivered only three Philippics; in contrast, the Philippics of the Roman statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero attacking Marc Antony some 300 years later - orationes philippicae in Latin (so-named because of their similarity to Demosthenes' orations) - numbered fourteen. We still capitalize the word when we refer to these famous diatribes, but ever since 1592, philippic has been used (usually in lowercase) in a broader sense as well.
Examples of philippic in a Sentence
Andrew Kay, Harpers Magazine, 28 May 2025
The poet’s occasional philippics against capitalist excess are hard to distinguish from postwar politics, when former allies became lethal enemies, while in America the Red Scare of McCarthyism loomed.
—William Logan, New York Times, 11 Apr. 2025
While its always welcome to see additional news outlets in the battle for truth, justice and the American way, this philippic certainly doesn’t deserve to be taken seriously as a dispenser of information.
—Charles Selle, Chicago Tribune, 19 Sep. 2022
Early Friday morning, around 1 am Eastern, President Donald Trump had published a 102-word philippic to his Facebook and Twitter pages.
—Benjamin Wofford, Wired, 10 Mar. 2022
Cite this Entry
“Philippic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/philippic. Accessed 12 Jul. 2025.
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