polemic
noun
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Diatribe, jeremiad, philippic … the English language sure has a lot of formal words for the things we say or write when we are—to use a decidedly less formal term—big mad. We will refrain from going on a tirade about it, however, especially since it’s good to have options with subtle differences in tone and meaning. Polemic, which traces back ultimately to the Greek word for war, polemos, is the word you want to refer specifically to an aggressive attack on someone’s ideas or principles. Someone who is cheesed off because they don’t like cheese, for example, wouldn’t write a polemic about it. A turophile upset about the gustatory philosophy behind their local cheesemonger’s recent offerings just might.
Examples of polemic in a Sentence
Erik Baker, Harpers Magazine, 18 June 2025
Yet Rodríguez insists the drama is more than polemics.
—Jamie Lang, Variety, 30 Apr. 2025
Meanwhile, an early Jewish polemic claimed that Jesus was the illegitimate son of a Roman soldier nicknamed Panther—perhaps employing a tasteless but pointed pun on the Greek word parthenos (virgin).
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 24 Mar. 2025
It should not be crafted as a polemic but as a pragmatic assessment of why, from the business perspective, the rule of law serves the national interest in a multiplicity of clearly articulated ways.
—Mark A. Cohen, Forbes, 24 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for polemic
Cite this Entry
“Polemic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/polemic. Accessed 3 Jul. 2025.
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polemic
noun
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