diatribe

English

WOTD – 29 January 2006

Etymology

First attested 1581, borrowed from French diatribe, from Latin diatriba (“learned discussion or discourse”), from Ancient Greek διατριβή (diatribḗ, “way of spending time, lecture”), from διά (diá, “through”) + τρίβω (tríbō, “I waste, wear out”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdaɪ.əˌtɹaɪb/, enPR: dīˈ -ə-trībˌ

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Noun

diatribe (plural diatribes)

1. An abusive, bitter verbal or written attack, criticism or denunciation.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:diatribe

   The senator was prone to diatribes which could go on for more than an hour.

   • 1913, Robert Barr, chapter 4, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad‎^[1]:

     “… No rogue e’er felt the halter draw, with a good opinion of the law, and perhaps my own detestation of the law arises from my having frequently broken it. If this long diatribe bores you, just say so, and I’ll cut it short.”

   • 1991, Bill Crow, Jazz Anecdotes‎^[2], Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 316:

     You know, it’s all this racial diatribe, and very strong language, screaming at the top of his lungs into the telephone.

   • 2000, J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Scholastic Press, →ISBN, page 41:

     Aunt Petunia wasn’t eating anything at all. Her arms were folded, her lips were pursed, and she seemed to be chewing her tongue, as though biting back the furious diatribe she longed to throw at Harry.

   • 2021 May 5, Philip Haigh, “I think we need better than this from the rail industry”, in RAIL, number 930, page 51:

     Lest this [be] read as a diatribe against DfT, I have some sympathy with it. That's because whenever there's a problem with the railway, the industry's solution is to ask DfT for billions of pounds.

2. A prolonged discourse; a long-winded speech.

Derived terms

• diatribal

Translations

bitter denunciation

• Czech: jízlivost f, (slovní) výpad m, diatriba f
• Dutch: tirade (nl)
• French: diatribe (fr) f
• German: gehässiger Angriff m, Hetze (de) f, Hetzrede (de) f, Hetzschrift (de) f, Ausfall (de) m
• Greek: καταγγελία (el) f (katangelía)

  Ancient: διατριβή f (diatribḗ)

• Hungarian: gyalázkodás (hu)
• Italian: diatriba (it) f
• Portuguese: diatribe (pt) f
• Romanian: diatribă (ro) f
• Russian: диатриба f (diatriba), обличительная речь f (obličitelʹnaja rečʹ)
• Spanish: diatriba (es)
• Swedish: stridsskrift c, angrepp (sv) n, utfall (sv) n

prolonged discourse

• Czech: diatriba f
• Dutch: tirade (nl)
• French: diatribe (fr)
• German: Suada (de) f
• Greek: διατριβή (el) f (diatriví)

  Ancient: διατριβή f (diatribḗ)

• Ido: diatribo (io)
• Italian: diatriba (it) f, concione (it) f, arringa (it) f
• Portuguese: diatribe (pt) f
• Romanian: diatriba
• Russian: диатриба f (diatriba)
• Spanish: diatriba (es)
• Swedish: utläggning (sv) c

French

Etymology

From Latin diatriba (“learned discussion or discourse”), from Ancient Greek διατριβή (diatribḗ, “way of spending time, lecture”), from διά (diá, “through”) + τρίβω (tríbō, “to waste, wear out”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dja.tʁib/
• Rhymes: -ib

Noun

diatribe f (plural diatribes)

1. diatribe (abusive, bitter discourse)

Descendants

• English: diatribe
• Portuguese: diatribe
• Spanish: diatriba

Further reading

• “diatribe”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Noun

diatribe f

1. plural of diatriba

Anagrams

• ibridate, ribadite

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from French diatribe.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒi.aˈtɾi.bi/ [d͡ʒɪ.aˈtɾi.bi], (faster pronunciation) /d͡ʒjaˈtɾi.bi/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒi.aˈtɾi.bi/ [d͡ʒɪ.aˈtɾi.bi], (faster pronunciation) /d͡ʒjaˈtɾi.bi/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒi.aˈtɾi.be/ [d͡ʒɪ.aˈtɾi.be], (faster pronunciation) /d͡ʒjaˈtɾi.be/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /di.ɐˈtɾi.bɨ/ [di.ɐˈtɾi.βɨ], (faster pronunciation) /djɐˈtɾi.bɨ/ [djɐˈtɾi.βɨ]

• Hyphenation: di‧a‧tri‧be

Noun

diatribe f (plural diatribes)

1. diatribe (bitter denunciation)

   Synonyms: catilinária, injúria

2. diatribe (prolonged discourse)