polemic
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\n \n Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 23, 2024 is:\n \n
\n \n\n polemic • \\puh-LEM-ik\\ • noun
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A polemic is a strong written or spoken attack against someone else\u2019s opinions, beliefs, practices, etc.
\n\n// Her book is a fierce polemic against societal inequalities.
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\u201cThat winter of 1774-1775 could be considered the nadir of the entire American patriot movement. After the closing of the First Continental Congress, North Americans \u2018turned upon one another as never before.\u2019 The colonists had never had a single view of Britain or how to respond to the measures it was trying to impose on the American colonies. \u2026 Strong polemics against further resistance to the British government spouted from printing presses across the colonies.\u201d \u2014 Nathan Perl-Rosenthal, The Age of Revolutions, 2024
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Diatribe, jeremiad, philippic \u2026 the English language sure has a lot of formal words for the things we say or write when we are\u2014to use a decidedly less formal term\u2014big mad. We will refrain from going on a tirade about it, however, especially since it\u2019s good to have options with subtle differences in tone and meaning. Polemic, which traces back ultimately to the Greek word for war, polemos, is the word you want to refer specifically to an aggressive attack on someone\u2019s ideas or principles. Someone who is cheesed off because they don\u2019t like cheese, for example, wouldn\u2019t write a polemic about it. A turophile upset about the gustatory philosophy behind their local cheesemonger\u2019s recent offerings just might.
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