Make Your Point > Archived Issues > TIRADE

Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.

explore the archives: Whether you're delivering or receiving a tirade--or a h____gue-- take a deep breath. A long, intensely emotional speech is a tirade. That's a less specific word than h____gue, which is a long, angry speech that always tells people what they should do. make your point with... "TIRADE" A tirade is a long, emotionally heated outpouring of words. Often a tirade is angry, and it can be either spoken or written. Pronunciation: TIE raid Part of speech: Countable noun. (Countable nouns, like "bottle," "piece," and "decision," are words for things that can be broken into exact units. You talk about "a bottle," "three pieces," and "many decisions." Likewise, talk about one tirade or multiple tirades.) Other forms: It's also a verb: you can tirade on a topic or tirade against someone or something. These days, though, we mostly stick to using "tirade" as a noun. How to use it: Although tirades are often angry and bitter, they can express any heated emotion, like fear, desperation, or devotion. Talk about people who go into a tirade, go off on a tirade, launch into a tirade, deliver a tirade, unleash a tirade, finish a tirade, publish a tirade, etc. Often you talk about his tirade, her tirade, or their tirade. Tirades are often delivered against ideas and people: "his tirade against illegal immigration," "her tirade against the manager." Add an adjective, if you like: a loud tirade, her abusive tirade, this elaborate tirade, that profane tirade. (There's no need to add "long" or "lengthy." By definition, tirades are long; they're not brief outbursts. So be sure that if you're talking about tirades on Twitter, you're referring to streams of tweets, not individual tweets.) You can also follow "tirade" with "of:" a tirade of half-truths and blatant lies, this tirade of drunken nonsense. examples: Even though I agree with her, I can't listen to her exhausting tirades. Kanye West recently sought psychiatric treatment after launching into a disjointed onstage tirade against everything from politics to MTV to Mark Zuckerberg. study it now: Look away from the screen to explain the definition in your own words. You’ll know you understand what "tirade" means when you can explain it without saying "violent speech" or "heated denunciation." try it out: When was the last time you witnessed a tirade? Fill in the blanks: "I (reacted in a certain way) when (someone) unleashed a tirade against (someone or something)." Example: "I stifled a cheer when Dr. Hannay unleashed a tirade against the profoundly uninformed speaker."  before you review: Spend at least 20 seconds occupying your mind with the game below. Then try the review questions. Don’t go straight to the review now—let your working memory empty out first. In November, we played with KWIKORD, an addictive, challenging new word game for solo or group play, created by Wayne Ellice. (Thanks for sharing your game with us, Wayne!) You can order your own copy of the full version of KWIKORD here. Yesterday, you took the letters KMNPEEIO and arranged them into as many words as possible while trying to reach all 4 corners within a 4x4 grid. We're multiplying the number of words we made by the number of corners we reached, trying for the maximum score of 32. There were lots of ways to do that. Here are two: I hope you enjoyed playing with KWIKORD as much as I did! :) Now, a new game for December:  This month, we'll play with the original and literal meanings of familiar words. I'll give you three words and their original or literal definitions, and you'll match them up. Easy! But then the following day, see if you can recall those old meanings. Hard! :) Our game has two purposes. One, we'll visit the interesting, thought-provoking old meanings of words. And two, we'll remind ourselves of a powerful learning strategy: delayed recalling. Let's play! Match the words with their original or literal definitions in the answer bank below. 1. "Comma" literally means _____ 2. "Illustrate" literally means _____ 3. "Martyr" originally meant _____ Answer bank: A. "to light up." B. "a witness." C. "a piece which is cut off." review today's word: 1. A close opposite of TIRADE is A. EULOGY B. DIATRIBE C. CALIBRATION 2. What should have been _____ devolved into a tirade. A. an errand B. a conversation C. a sturdy shelf Answers are below. a final word: To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact Liesl at Liesl@HiloTutor.com Disclaimer: Word meanings presented here are expressed in plain language and are limited to common, useful applications only. Readers interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words are encouraged to check a dictionary. Likewise, word meanings, usage, and pronunciations are limited to American English; these elements may vary across world Englishes. Answers to review questions: 1. A 2. B