diatribe
DY-uh-tribenounMeaning a bitter, sharply critical attack in speech or writing
Memory hook DIA-TRIBE: words that RUB you raw. The critic reads out his long, bitter scroll about the bakery: “Stale! Sour! Shameful!” His diatribe rubs poor Nell raw.
His letter to the editor was a diatribe against the new parking rules.
In context The review was less a careful critique than a diatribe: page after page of bitter attacks on the director, with hardly a word about the film itself.
Similar tirade, harangue, denunciation, attack
Opposite praise, tribute
From Greek diatribe, “a passing of time, a discussion,” from diatribein (to wear away): dia (through) + tribein (to rub).