tirade
Americannoun
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a long angry speech or denunciation
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rare prosody a speech or passage dealing with a single theme
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of tirade
1795–1805; < French: literally, a stretch, (continuous) pulling < Italian tirata, noun use of feminine of tirato, past participle of tirare to draw, pull, fire (a shot), of obscure origin
Explanation
A tirade is a speech, usually consisting of a long string of violent, emotionally charged words. Borrow and lose your roommate’s clothes one too many times, and you can bet you’ll be treated to a heated tirade. The noun tirade is related to the Italian word tirata, which means "volley." So imagine a very angry person lobbing harsh words and strings of profanity in your direction when you want to remember what tirade means. Although, tirades don't necessarily have to include bad words — any long, drawn out speech or epic declaration can be called a tirade.
Vocabulary lists containing tirade
300 Most Difficult "SAT" Words
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100 Words to Make You Sound Smart
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The Diary of a Young Girl
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Amri was the first to see the lengthy tirade.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
The tirade was so pathetic and noneventful that most networks didn’t bother to air it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
The UN human rights chief, Volker Türk, meanwhile said he deplored "the tirade of incendiary rhetoric being used in the Middle East war by all parties", calling it "sickening".
From BBC ● Apr. 7, 2026
Pep Guardiola said his success at Manchester City has come in spite of refereeing decisions going against his side in a tirade following Saturday's 2-0 win over Wolves.
From Barron's ● Jan. 24, 2026
The voice that interrupted Donovan’s tirade was not Powell’s.
From "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov
In a better world, perhaps he’d have had a change of heart and repented of his increasingly intolerant tirades.
From Salon ● May 8, 2026
The more immediate question is whether Warsh can survive his first months in office without the tirades and confrontation Powell endured for years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 21, 2026
It’s also the sort of thing that you could imagine Musk spinning out over, causing him to go on late-night X tirades about.
From Slate ● Apr. 22, 2025
Eye-popping tirades in his native Serbian towards them were a regular sight.
From BBC ● Jan. 23, 2025
This is always how her tirades begin and end: “If Anne were my daughter…” Thank goodness I’m not.
From "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
