diatribe

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Now do you see why my diatribe could be a real long read?

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Definitions (8)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun A bitter, abusive denunciation.
  2. Word History
    Listening to a lengthy diatribe may seem like a waste of time, an attitude for which there is some etymological justification. The Greek word diatribē, the ultimate source of our word, is derived from the verb diatrībein, made up of the prefix dia-, "completely,” and trībein, "to rub,” "to wear away, spend, or waste time,” "to be busy.” The verb diatrībein meant "to rub hard,” "to spend or waste time,” and the noun diatribē meant "wearing away of time, amusement, serious occupation, study,” as well as "discourse, short ethical treatise or lecture, debate, argument.” It is the serious occupation of time in discourse, lecture, and debate that gave us the first use of diatribe recorded in English (1581), in the now archaic sense "discourse, critical dissertation.” The critical element of this kind of diatribe must often have been uppermost, explaining the origin of the current sense of diatribe, "a bitter criticism.”

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Examples (33)

  • Your diatribe is an insult to yourself, Americans as a whole and whomever entrusted you with the job of covering current issues.
  • Absent from his diatribe was any concern, compassion or pledge to vigorously investigate who might be behind the attack. —  CounterPunch
  • : Dear Matt, I thought that your diatribe was magnificent. —  Stand Firm
  • The preface contained a furious, though just, diatribe, against the licence of modern comedy, with some personal reflections aimed at Dry den directly. —  The Dramatic Works of John Dryden, Volume 1 With a Life of the Author
  • Now do you see why my diatribe could be a real long read? —  OhGizmo!
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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Latin diatriba, learned discourse, from Greek diatribē, pastime, lecture, from diatrībein, to consume, wear away : dia-, intensive pref.; see dia- + trībein, to rub; see terə-1 in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Formerly also, as L., diatriba; = French diatribe = Spanish diatriba = Portuguese diatribe = Italian diatriba, from Middle Latin diatriba, a disputation (Latin diatriba, a school), from Greek διατριβή, a wearing away, pastime, way of spending time, a school, a discussion, waste of time, from διατρίβειν, rub away, waste, spend time, discuss, from διά, through, + τρίβειν, rub: see trite.
 

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/ˈdaɪətraɪb/
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