What's the difference between diatribe and polemical?

Diatribe


Definition:

  • (n.) A prolonged or exhaustive discussion; especially, an acrimonious or invective harangue; a strain of abusive or railing language; a philippic.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) I can't understand what was going on in his head when he launched that diatribe.
  • (2) His diatribes against Jimmy Goldsmith (on the possible size of whose "organ" he once dilated in print), or Shirley Williams, at any rate had no personal basis.
  • (3) Bercow thanked Williams and admitted it had been "a very long day" and said those expecting a long diatribe from him would be disappointed.
  • (4) "If there is one thing that has been wrong with this World Cup it is Fifa’s ridiculous insistence that teams wear predominantly light or dark strips," begins Stewart Todd, before taking a deep breath and resuming his diatribe, utilising both the 'relentless' and 'trenchant' styles.
  • (5) Anti-American feeling in Pakistan is becoming institutionalised at the higher levels of government, while opposition figures such as Imran Khan see their popularity rise on the back of diatribes aimed at Washington.
  • (6) A day earlier, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, one of the Islamic Republic's most venerable imams, treated the weekly televised gathering at Tehran University stadium to a stern anti-American diatribe.
  • (7) She glared down at us, launching into a diatribe about how the press had invaded the Clintons’ private life.
  • (8) In a recent diatribe in front of Istanbul university students, Erdogan warned against modern-day “Lawrences of Arabia” trying to undermine Turkish power.
  • (9) In her diatribe against "misery lit" she said she found very little wit and no jokes.
  • (10) In the opening sequence of Aaron Sorkin's new drama about a US cable news show, The Newsroom , anchorman Will McAvoy delivers a diatribe to earnest journalism students about the reasons why America is no longer the "greatest country in the world".
  • (11) Their ludicrous “not in my backyard!” diatribes would be amusing if they weren’t so harmful to our nation.
  • (12) Moyles opened the show after the 6.30am news bulletin sounding downcast and launched into a long diatribe: "Do you know what, I wasn't going to come in today.
  • (13) Recent viral hits have included a video of an anti-Tory diatribe set to a repurposing of the grime anthem Shutdown and an official Labour campaign video from rising star AJ Tracey .
  • (14) The rhetorical term "diatribe" refers to the ancient traditions of Roman satire and Cynic moral philosophy.
  • (15) My work is not focused on the histories of war, the facts and figures; the political rhetoric and diatribes that fuel them; the divides, fears or greed that start them.
  • (16) The US diplomatic mission in Havana, long accustomed to reporting the commandante's diatribes against American tyranny, was not prepared for fan mail.
  • (17) Housing minister Kris Hopkins said: "This partisan report is completely discredited, and it is disappointing that the United Nations has allowed itself to be associated with a misleading Marxist diatribe."
  • (18) Cruz then continued an extended diatribe, accusing Barack Obama and former attorney general Eric Holder of “politicizing” the justice department.
  • (19) It comes days after a homophobic diatribe which described the head of a United Nations commission on human rights in North Korea as a "disgusting old lecher" .
  • (20) Caroline Lucas grabbed the wrong end of the wrong stick in her diatribe on the point of the government's transparency bill.

Polemical


Definition:

  • (a.) Polemic; controversial; disputatious.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) My idea in Orientalism was to use humanistic critique to open up the fields of struggle, to introduce a longer sequence of thought and analysis to replace the short bursts of polemical, thought-stopping fury that so imprison us.
  • (2) Byatt said that, while she had not wished to present an allegory or a polemic, the story was impelled by a profound sense of gloom about the environment and indeed about all human endeavours.
  • (3) Anyone who allows himself to stoop to such polemics shows that they are running out of proper arguments”, said Jürgen Hardt, the foreign affairs spokesman for Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats.
  • (4) i lent brett ratner my 2nd (of 2) parms dorz cos he wantd 2 impress women and I was worrid he mite get bbq sauce on it agen lol You've said your films are intended as "polemical statements against the American 'barrel down' cinema and its dis-empowerment of the spectator."
  • (5) As one of the disenchanted Labour voters described by MacAskill, I have had many polemics put my way: the most persuasive have been George Galloway's "Just Say Naw" and a speech on the implications of Scottish independence for business by Rupert Soames, CEO of the Scottish firm Aggreko.
  • (6) Moore had contributed an essay on women's anger to an anthology of polemical writing.
  • (7) As well as appearing on TV, she writes a weekly column in the Sunday Fairfax papers, a column on The Drum, and books ranging from a Quarterly Essay on Malcolm Turnbull to the popular culture polemic The Wife Drought.
  • (8) Hitting back at the harsh criticism he has received in recent days, including depictions of him in the Greek press as an IS terrorist who had beheaded Greece, he said: “I have such a thick skin that it can’t derail me, but what does torment me is distorting polemic that completely misses the point.” Soon afterwards Sahra Wagenknecht of the far-left Linke, accused him of being a “cutback Taliban”.
  • (9) It is suggested that if change in the biomedical system is a goal of a critical clinical anthropology, the impact will be greater where objective and broad causal connections can be demonstrated with minimal use of rote or polemic arguments.
  • (10) And the groundbreaking forays into popular culture - his examinations of the British seaside postcard and boys' comics - and the revered polemical essays appeared in periodicals such as Horizon and Polemic.
  • (11) But Florian Philippot, Le Pen’s closest adviser, dismissed the accusations as “a campaign polemic”, describing Jalkh as “serious, moderate … a patriot and an honest man”.
  • (12) Based on considerable personal experience and a rigorous and critical analysis of case-reports, a highly polemic subject is discussed.
  • (13) I do not wish to engage in polemics regarding the relative worth of behavioral and psychodynamic theories of treatment, but this paper reflects my own misgivings about certain aspects of the token economy and is concerned more with the quality of the ward atmosphere it creates than with specific behavior changes.
  • (14) In one of the more conspiracy theorising polemics I have read in some while, he described this wealth-creating, free-trading, economic stimulus simply as "a monstrous assault on democracy" by institutions, "which have been captured by the corporations they are supposed to regulate".
  • (15) Since antiquity, puerperal mental disorders have always been the field of polemics concerning the different possible etiopathogenic hypothesis.
  • (16) Often the boundary between experience and polemic gets blurred.
  • (17) They range from the generally accepted to the frankly polemical and the merely heuristic.
  • (18) Walden aims at conversion, and Thoreau's polemical purpose gives it an energy and drive missing in the meanders of the sole other book he saw into publication during his short lifetime, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers (1849).
  • (19) The main polemic is over whether it is most useful to evaluate the total estsrogens or the individual fractions.
  • (20) It is clear that polemic is not sufficient and that consensus practices can only be based upon firm scientifically acquired data and detailed discussion of the options by those most intimately involved.