inveigh
Americanverb (used without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of inveigh
1480–90; < Latin invehī to attack with words, equivalent to in- in- 2 + vehī passive infinitive of vehere to ride, drive, sail ( cf. wain)
Explanation
Picture an old man banging his fist on the dinner table, inveighing against the evils of teenagers being allowed to listen to music and dance. Inveigh means to rail against something with hostility and passion. Related to vehicle, inveigh comes from Latin in- + vehere "to carry." During the Vietnam War, war protesters held rallies where young men burned their draft cards and inveighed against the imperialist motives by which our country was being driven and the war's escalation without its ever being properly authorized in Congress.
Vocabulary lists containing inveigh
Intermediate, List 1
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Between the World and Me
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"A Vindication of the Rights of Woman," Vocabulary from the political argument
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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.
Shouldn’t the ASA and its individual members similarly deploy their research to inveigh against injustice and advance social change?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026
To expend energy railing against this one petty, petty little man is to inveigh against the symptom, as opposed to the problem.
From Slate ● May 22, 2024
The intersection between people who love crypto and angrily inveigh against “cancel culture” is large and vocal, and the Millegan affair has thrown them all for a loop.
From The Verge ● Feb. 11, 2022
And Applewhite, who calls herself an “author and activist,” doesn’t just inveigh against stereotypes; she wants to nuke them, replacing terms like “seniors” and “the elderly” with “olders.”
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 28, 2019
But as these arts are rarely known among the middling part of mankind, I shall neither open their mysteries, nor inveigh against them any farther.
From The History of the Life and Adventures of Mr. Duncan Campell A Gentlen, who, tho' Deaf and Dumb, Writes down any Stranger's name at first Sight; by Daniel Defoe
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
