harangue

[huh-rang]

noun

a scolding or a long or intense verbal attack; diatribe.

a long, passionate, and vehement speech, especially one delivered before a public gathering.

any long, pompous speech or writing of a tediously hortatory or didactic nature; sermonizing lecture or discourse.

verb (used with object), ha·rangued, ha·rangu·ing.

to address in a harangue.

verb (used without object), ha·rangued, ha·rangu·ing.

to deliver a harangue.

Origin of harangue

1530–40; (noun) < Middle French harangue < Italian ar(r)inga speech, oration, noun derivative of ar(r)ingare to speak in public, verbal derivative of aringo public square < Gothic *hriggs ring¹; (v.) < Middle French haranguer < Italian ar(r)ingare

Related formsun·ha·rangued, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for harangued

tirade, jeremiad, spiel, discourse, oration, diatribe, screed, accost, buttonhole, philippic, declamation, speech, exhortation, address, hassle, sermon, spouting, declaim, orate, stump

Examples from the Web for harangued

Contemporary Examples of harangued

We busted into houses with shotguns, cleaned up decapitated bodies, harangued local authorities.
Mosul's Civilization and Its Discontents
Michael Carson
June 14, 2014
So he had demos made and touted them round the record companies; he pleaded and spieled and harangued.
What It Was Like to Watch the Beatles Become the Beatles—Nik Cohn Remembers
Nik Cohn
February 9, 2014

Historical Examples of harangued

Thence she harangued them for some moments, commanding them to allow the soldiers to depart.
The Snare
Rafael Sabatini
And then to hear how he harangued the people and abused the aristocracy.
The Martins Of Cro' Martin, Vol. I (of II)
Charles James Lever
Thus Hector harangued them; but the Trojans applauded aloud.
The Iliad of Homer (1873)
Homer
He harangued the Indians, and exhorted them to demolish the fort.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 14, No. 85, November, 1864
Various
They drank my health, and I harangued them with immense applause.
Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay
George Otto Trevelyan

British Dictionary definitions for harangued

harangue

verb

to address (a person or crowd) in an angry, vehement, or forcefully persuasive way

noun

a loud, forceful, or angry speech

Derived Formsharanguer, noun

Word Origin for harangue

C15: from Old French, from Old Italian aringa public speech, probably of Germanic origin; related to Medieval Latin harenga; see harry, ring 1

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for harangued

harangue

1650s, from French haranguer, from Middle French harangue (see harangue (n.)). Related: Harangued; haranguing.

harangue

mid-15c., arang, Scottish (in English from c.1600), from Middle French harangue (14c.), from Italian aringo "public square, platform," from a Germanic source ultimately from or including Proto-Germanic *ring "circular gathering" (see ring (n.1)). Perhaps it is ultimately from Gothic *hriggs (pronounced "hrings"), with the first -a- inserted to ease Romanic pronunciation of Germanic hr- (cf. hamper (n.)). But Barnhart suggests a Germanic compound, hari-hring "circular gathering," literally "army-ring."