Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Denunciatory or abusive language; vituperation.
- n. Denunciatory or abusive expression or discourse.
- adj. Of, relating to, or characterized by denunciatory or abusive language.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Censoriously abusive; vituperative; denunciatory.
- n. Vehement denunciation; an utterance of violent censure or reproach; also, a railing accusation; vituperation.
- n. Synonyms Abuse, Invective (see abuse); Satire, Pasquinade, etc. (see lampoon); philippic, objurgation, reproach, railing, diatribe.
Wiktionary
- n. An expression which inveighs or rails against a person.
- n. A severe or violent censure or reproach.
- n. Something spoken or written, intended to cast opprobrium, censure, or reproach on another.
- n. A harsh or reproachful accusation.
- adj. Characterized by invection or railing.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Characterized by invection; critical; denunciatory; satirical; abusive; railing.
- n. An expression which inveighs or rails against a person; a severe or violent censure or reproach; something uttered or written, intended to cast opprobrium, censure, or reproach on another; a harsh or reproachful accusation; -- followed by against, having reference to the person or thing affected.
WordNet 3.0
- n. abusive or venomous language used to express blame or censure or bitter deep-seated ill will
Etymologies
- From Latin invectīvus, from invectus, perfect passive participle of invehō ("bring in"), from in + vehō ("carry"). See vehicle, and compare with inveigh. (Wiktionary)
- From Middle English invectif, denunciatory, from Old French, from Late Latin invectīvus, reproachful, abusive, from Latin invectus, past participle of invehī, to inveigh against; see inveigh. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Sure, sometimes the invective is a tad over the top, but I think the trolls just go away from that thinking they really got someone wound up and spinning.”
“The invective is "some of the worst I've ever seen," Superintendent Dennis Carlson said.”
The Huffington Post: Suicide Surge: Schools Confront Anti-Gay Bullying
“By 19th-c. standards our political invective is embarrassingly lame.”
“Personal abuse and other invective is childish and an indication of lack of maturity and lack of judgement.”
“The same afternoon we talked also about the process of book reviewing, whether or not the use of insult and/or invective is ever justified and if so, when.”
“Truly ugly, invective is directed at Obama too, but as the winner it is incumbent on him to reach out to Clinton supporters.”
Angry Clinton supporters tell party leaders: 'Let's go McCain!'
“Finally, while invective is common in the political arena, Stefan's wife and personal life are clearly out of bounds, and especially with respect to vicious personal and racist remarks.”
Sound Politics: Michael Hood: Seattle's most chronically wrong journalist
“I wrote earlier that one of the best uses of invective is to frame wit - and that's where I think the article is deficient.”
“However the target for invective is the general public.”
“I'll be the first to admit that invective is not the highest form of humour (but neither's satire, let's be honest), but it can be a great launch-vehicle for irony, wit and satire.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘invective’.
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Test Prep or Just for fun
Building a list for standardized test prep or just for learning some new words! Please add any words that you feel are important for the SAT/GRE/GMAT etc...
throng, morass, parley, facile, kismet, strife, jetsam, carrion, annex, harbinger, vestige, surreptitious and 575 more...
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GRE Barron's 800
zealot, wistful, welter, wary, whimsical, warranted, vortex, vivisection, volatile, vitiate, viscous, visage and 787 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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words 1
Traduce, Ramify, precipitous, rapture, adumbrate, knell, smolder, vagary, choleric, sibylline, hypocritical, jejune and 135 more...
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GRE 2014
abate, abdicate, abase, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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SAT Words
But only the ones that I don't already know.
abase, abash, abominate, abstruse, acclivity, accolade, accost, adroit, adulate, adulterate, adumbrate, affray and 241 more...
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From reading
Collected from reading
venerate, reprobate, reticent, adoration, ethereal, ephemeral, equivocal, contumacious, heinous, solicitous, agnostic, aberration and 335 more...
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EN - eloquence in public speaking
Key words from "The Training of a Public Speaker" by Grenville Kleiser (New York and London, 1920)
beget, imago, Vespasian, languid, studied, judgment, dwindle, artifice, contribute, observe, sonorous, gladiator and 264 more...
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(1st_wk_150)-Dec_5_2012
voracious, indiscriminate, eminent, steeped, replete, abound, technology, prognosticate, automaton, matron, paradox, realm and 297 more...
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cicatrix
scar tissue
minatory, naira, Cluniac, embracive, prolix, hierophant, timorous, adduce, veracious, dysphoric, sang-froid, vitiate and 503 more...
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Words about Words
words to describe language
invective, eloquent, laconic, solecism, calque, cognate, bombastic, verbose, anthimeria, magniloquent, amphigory, morpheme and 6 more...
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man gre
abase, abeyance, abreast, abscission, abscond, abyss, accede, accretion, acerbic, acidulous, acumen, adulterate and 483 more...
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New to Me
anodyne, salient, ecumenical, salubrious, invective, incendiary, colophon, stola, druthers, syllogism, geodesic, quant and 16 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1908 more...
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Terms for AP Lit
This list is designed to be a reference for my AP Lit. students
metonymy, synecdoche, metaphor, simile, litotes, satire, irony, sarcasm, invective, bathos, broadside, characterization and 28 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for invective.
leopardann [noun: Abusive Language, Vituperation, Abusive Expression or Discourse.
adjective: Of, relating to, or characterized by Denunciatory or Abusive Language.] Jan 12, 2010