tirade
5 dictionary results for: tirade
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
ti·rade 
[tahy-reyd, tahy-reyd] Pronunciation Key
[tahy-reyd, tahy-reyd] Pronunciation Key –noun
| 1. | a prolonged outburst of bitter, outspoken denunciation: a tirade against smoking. |
| 2. | a long, vehement speech: a tirade in the Senate. |
| 3. | a passage dealing with a single theme or idea, as in poetry: the stately tirades of Corneille. |
[Origin: 1795–1805; < F: lit., a stretch, (continuous) pulling < It tirata, n. use of fem. of tirato, ptp. of tirare to draw, pull, fire (a shot), of obscure orig.]
] —Synonyms 2. harangue, diatribe.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
| ti·rade
(tī'rād', tī-rād') Pronunciation Key
n. A long angry or violent speech, usually of a censorious or denunciatory nature; a diatribe. [French, from Old French, act of firing, from tirer, to draw out, endure, probably back-formation from martirant, present participle of martirer, to torture (influenced by mar, to one's misfortune, and tiranz, executioner, tyrant), from martir, martyr, from Late Latin martyr; see martyr.] |
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
tirade
tirade
1801, "a 'volley of words,' " from Fr. tirade "speech, volley, shot, continuation, drawing out" (16c.), from tirer "draw out, endure, suffer," or the Fr. word is perhaps from cognate It. tirata "a volley," from pp. of tirare "to draw." The whole Romanic word group is of uncertain origin; some think it is a shortening of the source of O.Fr. martirer "endure martyrdom" (see martyr).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Tirade
Ti*rade"\, n. [F., fr. It. tirada, properly, a pulling; hence, a lengthening out, a long speech, a tirade, fr. tirare to draw; of Teutonic origin, and akin to E. tear to redn. See Tear to rend, and cf. Tire to tear.] A declamatory strain or flight of censure or abuse; a rambling invective; an oration or harangue abounding in censorious and bitter language. Here he delivers a violent tirade against persons who profess to know anything about angels. --Quarterly Review.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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