FromLatinphilippicus, fromAncient Greekφιλιππικός(philippikós), fromΦίλιππος(Phílippos,“lover of horses”), fromφίλος(phílos,“loving”) +ἵππος(híppos,“horse”).
philippic (pluralphilippics)
- Any of the discourses ofDemosthenes againstPhilip II of Macedon, defending the liberty of Athens.
- (by extension) Anytirade ordeclamation full of bitter condemnation.
- Synonyms:seeThesaurus:diatribe
1811,[Jane Austen], chapter XII, inSense and Sensibility […], volume II, London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published byT[homas] Egerton, […],→OCLC,page234:Mrs. Ferrars looked exceedingly angry, and drawing herself up more stiffly than ever, pronounced in retort this bitterphillipic; “Miss Morton is Lord Morton’s daughter.”
1842, [anonymous collaborator ofLetitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XXXVII, inLady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London:Henry Colburn, […],→OCLC,page172:"Sir Robert Akhurst is a good man, a very good man, notwithstanding hisphilippic; but he is an old one, which makes all the difference."
1922 February,James Joyce,Ulysses, Paris:Shakespeare and Company, […],→OCLC:Skin-the-Goat, assuming he was he, evidently with an axe to grind, was airing his grievances in a forcible-feeblephilippic anent the natural resources of Ireland, or something of that sort, which he described in his lengthy dissertation as the richest country bar none on the face of God’s earth, far and away superior to England
2017 September 7, Ferdinand Mount, “Umbrageousness”, inLondon Review of Books[1]:As a young man, Lytton Strachey admired Hastings and wrote a long thesis on him, while dismissing Burke as ‘an ignorant enthusiast’. What strikes me on rereading those greatphilippics is, on the contrary, their exactness and perceptiveness.
any tirade or declamation full of bitter condemnation
