jeremiad
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of jeremiad
1770–80; Jeremi(ah) + -ad 1 in reference to Jeremiah's Lamentations
Explanation
If a kid who's away at summer camp mails his parents a jeremiad, it means that he sends them a long, sad list of complaints. Use the noun jeremiad to talk about any list of woes, especially a lengthy, mournful one. Many letters to the editors of newspapers and comments on websites are jeremiads, and someone addressing a city council or school board might make a verbal jeremiad — speaking for a long time about their many grievances. The word jeremiad was coined in 1700s France, as jérémiade, and it was a reference to the Old Testament's "Lamentations of Jeremiah."
Vocabulary lists containing jeremiad
There's A Word for That
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
You Name It: Eponyms
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
National Spelling Bee '14: Prelims Round 2
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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.
Even so, when Kelly was finally out at NBC in 2018, she didn’t go out in the style of Bari Weiss, with a jeremiad about “wokes” in the newsroom.
From Slate • May 6, 2026
His underlying idea isn’t a jeremiad against AI as a whole, but that the market has detached from reality.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 28, 2025
I don’t intend this column to be either a jeremiad or a lambasting of marijuana.
From Salon • Dec. 31, 2024
But the HBO show is a savage jeremiad, inspiring sympathy for its characters only insofar as they’re prisoners of familial pathology.
From Seattle Times • Jul. 29, 2022
The intensity of the eyes and the defiant tone bewildered the doctor, who found his well-constructed jeremiad without a platform.
From The Ragged Edge by MacGrath, Harold
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.
