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invective

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adjective

Synonym Chooser

How is the word invective distinct from other similar nouns?

Some common synonyms of invective are abuse, billingsgate, obloquy, and vituperation. While all these words mean "vehemently expressed condemnation or disapproval," invective implies a comparable vehemence but suggests greater verbal and rhetorical skill and may apply to a public denunciation.

blistering political invective

When is abuse a more appropriate choice than invective?

The synonyms abuse and invective are sometimes interchangeable, but abuse, the most general term, usually implies the anger of the speaker and stresses the harshness of the language.

scathing verbal abuse

When could billingsgate be used to replace invective?

The meanings of billingsgate and invective largely overlap; however, billingsgate implies practiced fluency and variety of profane or obscene abuse.

directed a stream of billingsgate at the cabdriver

When is it sensible to use obloquy instead of invective?

Although the words obloquy and invective have much in common, obloquy suggests defamation and consequent shame and disgrace.

subjected to obloquy and derision

When would vituperation be a good substitute for invective?

While in some cases nearly identical to invective, vituperation implies fluent and sustained abuse.

a torrent of vituperation

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of invective
Noun
That decision, highly unusual in Japan, earned her some support from politicians, but a tide of abuse and invective on social media from people dismissing her claims. Matthew Carey, Deadline, 17 Feb. 2025 Congress often seems incapable of doing anything other than hurl petty invectives across the aisle. Ron Estes, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Mar. 2025
Adjective
Photo: YouTube Cummings is known as a roast comic, an artist of invective. Kerry Howley, Vulture, 24 Apr. 2025 Congolese leaders have a tendency for invective and to blame all their ills on Rwanda. Jason K. Stearns, TIME, 19 Mar. 2025 See All Example Sentences for invective
Recent Examples of Synonyms for invective
Noun
  • Court papers say the defendant, Farrukh Ali, conspired with at least 41 substance abuse clinics to bill the state for hundreds of millions of dollars for substance abuse services that were never provided, not provided as billed or were medically unnecessary.
    Ryan Lucas, NPR, 30 June 2025
  • President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans say the bill would cut waste, fraud and abuse from Medicaid, providing coverage only to those who truly need it.
    Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune, 30 June 2025
Adjective
  • The memoir describes the fallout of Lacey’s divorce from her emotionally abusive husband.
    Diana Arterian June 20, Literary Hub, 20 June 2025
  • The three bonded over the topic, sharing stories about abusive relationships from their past – either their own entanglements, or their friends’.
    Tom Roland, Billboard, 18 June 2025
Noun
  • The politicization of the COVID response has only worsened this trend, likely resulting in part from Trump’s vituperation.
    Matt Motta, Scientific American, 29 Oct. 2024
  • Flash forward 92-plus years to Donald Trump’s rally Sunday at New York’s Madison Square Garden, a bleak, lurid festival of racist hate and profane vituperation so vile that even fellow Republicans, who have turned a blind eye to Trump’s character for years, are distancing themselves from the event.
    Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 29 Oct. 2024
Adjective
  • Conversations revealed an ongoing dialogue that was not only deeply insulting to Read, but morally offensive to women broadly.
    Gemma Allen, Forbes.com, 25 June 2025
  • Trump’s orders are insulting to state and local officials, but especially to the Marines.
    Tom Zirpoli, Baltimore Sun, 17 June 2025
Noun
  • Under it, anyone who defames, insults or threatens the King, Queen, heir apparent, or regent faces three to 15 years in prison.
    Charlie Campbell, Time, 26 June 2025
  • To suggest that the lawsuit is a look into the past insults understatement, and in the process calls into question the worth of the FTC.
    John Tamny, Forbes.com, 25 June 2025
Adjective
  • The events this morning are outrageous and will have everlasting consequences.
    Jason Lemon, MSNBC Newsweek, 23 June 2025
  • My hair fell out, my mouth filled with sores, and the overnight fevers were outrageous.
    Noor Hassan, Rolling Stone, 21 June 2025
Noun
  • Habba’s involvement has drawn criticism from Democrats, who accuse the Trump administration of politicizing federal prosecutions.
    Essence, Essence, 26 June 2025
  • Asked to comment on the violence near the food sites and criticism around the group, Segal defended the organization.
    Daniel Estrin, NPR, 26 June 2025
Adjective
  • On Wednesday, the President faced a barrage of ominous developments that might have fazed another leader—a worrisome jobs report, losses in federal court related to four of his signature policies, an increasingly vituperative public breakup with Elon Musk.
    Susan B. Glasser, New Yorker, 5 June 2025
  • Even before Trump took office, many scientists were reluctant to engage with the topic, for fear of being drawn into what has been a very public and vituperative debate.
    Daniel Engber, The Atlantic, 20 May 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Invective.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/invective. Accessed 5 Jul. 2025.

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