harangue
[huh-rang]
- 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.
Show More
- to address in a harangue.
Show More
- to deliver a harangue.
Show More
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
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for harangued
Contemporary Examples
We busted into houses with shotguns, cleaned up decapitated bodies, harangued local authorities.
So he had demos made and touted them round the record companies; he pleaded and spieled and harangued.
Historical Examples
Thence she harangued them for some moments, commanding them to allow the soldiers to depart.
The SnareRafael 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.
He harangued the Indians, and exhorted them to demolish the fort.
They drank my health, and I harangued them with immense applause.
Life and Letters of Lord MacaulayGeorge Otto Trevelyan
harangue
- to address (a person or crowd) in an angry, vehement, or forcefully persuasive way
Show More
- a loud, forceful, or angry speech
Show More
Word Origin
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
v.
1650s, from French haranguer, from Middle French harangue (see harangue (n.)). Related: Harangued; haranguing.
Show More
harangue
n.
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."
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper