invective

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)‎^[1], 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

something spoken or written, intended to cast shame, disgrace, censure, or reproach on another

• Bulgarian: хули (bg) f pl (huli), ругатни (bg) f pl (rugatni)
• Catalan: invectiva (ca) f
• Dutch: scheldwoord (nl) n
• French: invective (fr) f
• German: Invektive (de) f
• Hebrew: נְאָצָה (he) f (neatzá)
• Hungarian: szitkozódás (hu), szitok (hu), szidalom (hu), szidalmazás (hu), kirohanás (hu), gorombaság (hu), gyalázkodás (hu)
• Italian: invettiva (it) f
• Latin: convīcium n, maledictum n, contumēlia f
• Maori: kaioraora
• Plautdietsch: Schempwuat n
• Portuguese: invectiva (pt) f
• Serbo-Croatian: invektiva (sh) f
• Spanish: invectiva (es) f
• Swedish: invektiv (sv) n

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

• (characterized by invection or railing): abusive, critical, denunciatory, satirical, vitriolic, vituperative

Translations

characterized by invection or railing

• Bulgarian: обиден (bg) (obiden), ругателен (bg) (rugatelen)
• Italian: invettivo (it)

French

Pronunciation

• Homophones: invectivent, invectives

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

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

Portuguese

Verb

invective

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