tirade
Americannoun
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a long angry speech or denunciation
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rare prosody a speech or passage dealing with a single theme
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of tirade
1795–1805; < French: literally, a stretch, (continuous) pulling < Italian tirata, noun use of feminine of tirato, past participle of tirare to draw, pull, fire (a shot), of obscure origin
Explanation
A tirade is a speech, usually consisting of a long string of violent, emotionally charged words. Borrow and lose your roommate’s clothes one too many times, and you can bet you’ll be treated to a heated tirade. The noun tirade is related to the Italian word tirata, which means "volley." So imagine a very angry person lobbing harsh words and strings of profanity in your direction when you want to remember what tirade means. Although, tirades don't necessarily have to include bad words — any long, drawn out speech or epic declaration can be called a tirade.
Vocabulary lists containing tirade
300 Most Difficult "SAT" Words
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100 Words to Make You Sound Smart
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The Diary of a Young Girl
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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.
See Examples For:
I fired up the AI and let loose a good long tirade about my flaky colleague…and felt as lousy as I always do when I give voice to my most judgmental instincts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026
But that came to an abrupt end after a seven-minute tirade by Sandilands on 20 February, in which he accused Henderson of being "off with the fairies" and not pulling her weight at work.
From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2026
In the years since it aired, Banks’ infamous tirade, “I was rooting for you! We were all rooting for you!”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 16, 2026
Pep Guardiola said his success at Manchester City has come in spite of refereeing decisions going against his side in a tirade following Saturday's 2-0 win over Wolves.
From Barron's ● Jan. 24, 2026
He actually had Miep bring him a book, an anti-Mussolini tirade, which has been banned.
From "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank
Just last week he quipped about the president’s overnight posting tirades.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 20, 2026
The more immediate question is whether Warsh can survive his first months in office without the tirades and confrontation Powell endured for years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 21, 2026
Delhi has been restrained in its response so far to Trump's tirades, hoping that diplomacy might eventually help secure a trade deal.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2025
It’s also the sort of thing that you could imagine Musk spinning out over, causing him to go on late-night X tirades about.
From Slate ● Apr. 22, 2025
And to Trip, the whole thing was pure comedy: a glorious slapstick spectacle, complete with bleeped-out tirades and plenty of chair throwing.
From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng
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.
