jeremiad
Prolonged mournful complaint
A jeremiad is a prolonged lamentation or complaint, especially one predicting disaster or denouncing society's failings.
The word comes from Jeremiah, the Hebrew prophet whose biblical book catalogues the sins of Israel and warns of divine punishment.
Modern use often carries a note of excess—the person delivering a jeremiad may be right about the problems but tiresome in the telling: His speech devolved into a jeremiad against modern technology.
Bitter, prolonged verbal attack
- harangueAggressive lengthy scolding
- rantAngry prolonged outburst
- philippicBitter accusatory speech
- invectiveAbusive denunciation
denunciation · screed · fulmination · broadside · polemic · vituperation · excoriation · oration
Mournful expression of grief
- dirgeMournful commemorative music
- elegyPoem lamenting the departed
- threnodyMemorial song of grief
- wailingProlonged mournful crying
keening · bemoaning · bewailing · plaint · ululation · mourning · sorrow · woe
Unavoidable grim fate
- apocalypticPertaining to ultimate devastation
- warningAlert about danger
- forebodingFearful anticipation of harm
- portentSign of future calamity
omen · premonition · harbinger · prophecy · prediction · biblical · lamentation · exile
Formal institutional disapproval
- rebukeExpress sharp disapproval
- reproachExpression of disappointment
- reprimandFormal expression of disapproval
- admonishmentExpression of disapproval or warning
indictment · chastisement · critique · disapproval · opprobrium · scorn · disparagement · excoriation
diatribe
Bitter, prolonged verbal attack
invective · denunciation · screed · fulmination · broadside · polemic · vituperation · excoriation · oration · peroration
lament
Mournful expression of grief
wailing · keening · bemoaning · bewailing · plaint · ululation · mourning · sorrow · woe · anguish
doom
Unavoidable grim fate
- apocalypticPertaining to ultimate devastation
- warningAlert about danger
- forebodingFearful anticipation of harm
portent · omen · premonition · harbinger · prophecy · prediction · biblical · lamentation · exile · calamity
censure
Formal institutional disapproval
- rebukeExpress sharp disapproval
- reproachExpression of disappointment
- reprimandFormal expression of disapproval
admonishment · indictment · chastisement · critique · disapproval · opprobrium · scorn · disparagement · excoriation · objurgation
- lamentslamentation, wailing, keen, keening, lament
- oratorypublic speaking, speeches, oration, orations, addresses
- speechesspeech, addresses, historic speeches, lecture, soliloquy
- tiradestirades, tirade, rants, rant, harangues
- rhetoricrhetoric, persuasion, oratory, argumentation, debate
- Colonial Americanacolonial laws, almanacs, Benjamin Franklin, William Bradford, Thomas Paine
jeremiadutopian vision
Imagined perfect society
pep talk · blessing · rallying cry · inspirational speech · good news