polemic

Advancedzipf 2.64

Pronunciation

/pəˈlɛmɪk/(puh-LEM-ik)

Part of speech

noun / adjectiveformal

Chinese

论战；争论性的

Definition

A strong written or spoken attack on someone's opinions or actions; a controversial argument.

Word family

  • polemical/pəˈlɛmɪkəl/(adj)论战的
  • polemicist/pəˈlɛmɪsɪst/(n)论战者
  • polemicize/pəˈlɛmɪsaɪz/(v)进行论战

Collocations

  • political polemic
  • engage in polemics
  • polemical essay
  • fierce polemic

Examples

  1. 1.His book is more polemic than scholarship — it attacks rather than analyzes. (aggressive argument)
  2. 2.The editorial was a fierce polemic against government censorship. (strong attack)

Synonyms

  • diatribe/ˈdaɪətraɪb/— forceful attack
  • tirade/taɪˈreɪd/— long angry speech
  • invective/ɪnˈvɛktɪv/— insulting language

Etymology

from Greek "polemikos" — "polemos" = war — the art of verbal warfare