breast-beating

American  

[brest-bee-ting] / ˈbrɛstˌbi tɪŋ /

noun

1. a loud and demonstrative display of grief, remorse, or the like.

   The authorities indulged in a great deal of breast-beating about traffic accidents but failed to pass new driving laws.

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adjective

1. characterized by or involving breast-beating.

Other Word Forms

• breast-beater noun

Etymology

Origin of breast-beating

First recorded in 1950–55

Example Sentences

Far too rarely does contemporary fiction and nonfiction provide the needed escape, regularly being gloomy, earnest and replete with finger-pointing and breast-beating.

From Washington Post • Mar. 31, 2021

That is also, not coincidentally, the same stance that most of the media has taken, albeit after a brief bout of breast-beating and hysteria.

From Salon • Apr. 5, 2019

They cater to an audience; they prefer breast-beating to calm recitation, opinion to statistics.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 15, 2017

It’s a story about work that’s rarely cinematic, told without breast-beating or sensationalizing.

From The Verge • Nov. 4, 2015

Frequent libations to the health of the departed soul soon produce their effect, and the family begins to express its grief in the most uproarious manner, by dismal exclamations, hair-tearing, and breast-beating.

From Cuba Past and Present by Davey, Richard