PHILIPPIC Synonyms: 58 Similar and Opposite Words

philippic

noun

fə-ˈli-pik

Definition of philippic

as in jeremiad

a long angry speech or scolding the head coach was briefly suspended after launching into a foul-mouthed philippic during a press conference

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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 philippic The Atlantic’s second issue included a thunderous philippic of some 7,600 words on the relentless encroachments of slavery and the fate of the Republic. — Jake Lundberg, The Atlantic, 12 Feb. 2026 How not to hear in his philippic the traces of an OCD inscribed in our cultural DNA, a sanctimony that launched the archetypal act of avoidance that forms our origin myth? — 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

Recent Examples of Synonyms for philippic

Noun

Kelaidis reads their popularity as evidence that historical scholarship has become a kind of liberal jeremiad, offering moral reassurance through historical analogy.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 23 July 2026
The question, of course, is what we are supposed to do with these bourgeois jeremiads against bourgeois civilization, beyond enjoying them as high-end primal-scream therapy.

— Alex Ross, New Yorker, 15 June 2026

Definition of jeremiad

Noun

In his on-court diatribe, Pospisil threatened to sue the tour; the ATP threatened to fine him thousands of dollars.

— Matthew Futterman, New York Times, 25 July 2026
From sunburn complications to being on the receiving end of a Whitney Duncan diatribe, Cochran went through the reality TV wringer twice and lived to tell the tale.

— Dalton Ross, Entertainment Weekly, 2 July 2026

Definition of diatribe

Noun

In recent years and as online culture changed, Hilton toned down his public attacks and appeared to embrace fatherhood and adopt a kinder public persona, even integrating more family-friendly content on his site.

— Charisma Madarang, Rolling Stone, 5 Aug. 2026
On April 1, Shawnda Jackson, the girl's grandmother, said there had been six adult relatives at the house, where the girl lived with 11 relatives, when the attack happened.

— Rafael Escalera Montoto, Arkansas Online, 5 Aug. 2026

Definition of attack

Noun

Morgan has spent months answering the criticism that her title reign leans on Judgment Day interference, and WWE gave her the finish without a single outside assist at the 100-day mark of the reign.

— Brian Mazique, Forbes.com, 2 Aug. 2026
Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick also leveled criticism at Wasserman Schultz, who lives in Weston.

— Joan Murray, CBS News, 1 Aug. 2026

Definition of criticism

Noun

Stephen Adly Guirgis, a New York playwright who specializes in urban pressure-cooker dramas, has a gift for writing subway strap-hanger harangues.

— Theater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 29 Apr. 2026
The Americans were prepared for a lecture from Russia’s longtime foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, who is well known for his tedious harangues.

— Michael Crowley, New York Times, 21 Feb. 2025

Definition of harangue

Noun

Not like brushing shoulders with Lil Baby and Lil Yachty is a musical death sentence (Veeze is still tearing it up), but for a rapper who specialized in free-flowing street sermons, that slight touch of formalism and structure depletes the vibe.

— Alphonse Pierre, Pitchfork, 29 July 2026
Of the manuscript's six sermons, two were previously unknown.

— Andrea Margolis, FOXNews.com, 29 July 2026

Definition of sermon

Noun

Note and MyScript Calculator streamline handwritten lecture notes.

— Juhi Wadia, PC Magazine, 5 Aug. 2026
This insensate gaze is one that cannot be returned, as Jacques Lacan observed of the camera pointed at him during his performative lecture Télévision, recorded in 1973 and broadcast on prime-time TV in France.

— Jan Tumlir, Artforum, 5 Aug. 2026

Definition of lecture

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Style

“Philippic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/philippic. Accessed 8 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of philippic

noun

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