invective

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See also: invectivé

English

Etymology

From Middle French invective, from Medieval Latin invectiva (“abusive speech”), from Latin invectīvus, from invectus, perfect passive participle of invehō (“bring in”), from in- + vehō (“carry”). See vehicle, and compare with inveigh.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɪnˈvɛktɪv/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɪv
  • Rhymes: -ɛktɪv

Noun

invective (countable and uncountable, plural invectives)

  1. An expression which inveighs or rails against a person.
  2. A severe or violent censure or reproach.
  3. Something spoken or written, intended to cast shame, disgrace, censure, or reproach on another.
    • 1963, C.L.R. James, The Black Jacobins, 2nd Revised edition, page 24:
      And wordy attacks against slavery drew sneers from observers which were not altogether undeserved. The authors were compared to doctors who offered to a patient nothing more than invectives against the disease which consumed him.
    • 2013 September 14, Jane Shilling, “The Golden Thread: the Story of Writing, by Ewan Clayton, review [print edition: Illuminating language]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review)‎, page R28:
      [A] savage passage of 14th-century invective about the text-obsessed nerdiness of the Florentine bibliophile and friend of Petrarch, Niccolò Niccoli ...
  4. A harsh or reproachful accusation.
    Politics can raise invective to a low art.

Translations

Adjective

invective (comparative more invective, superlative most invective)

  1. Characterized by invection or railing.
    Tom's speeches became diatribes — each more invective than the last.

Synonyms

Translations

French

Pronunciation

Noun

invective f (plural invectives)

  1. invective

Verb

invective

  1. inflection of invectiver:
    1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
    2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

Portuguese

Verb

invective

  1. inflection of invectivar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative
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