philippic
/fɪˈlɪpɪk/
philippic noun: any of the discourses of Demosthenes against Philip II of Macedon, defending the liberty of Athens.
Noun
philippic (plural philippics)
- Any of the discourses of Demosthenes against Philip II of Macedon, defending the liberty of Athens.
- […] the Bema, from whence Demosthenes thundered his philippics and fired the wavering patriotism of his countrymen.1869, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XXXII, in The Innocents Abroad, or The New Pilgrims’ Progress; […], Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company. […], →OCLC, page 348
- Any tirade or declamation full of bitter condemnation.
- Mrs. Ferrars looked exceedingly angry, and drawing herself up more stiffly than ever, pronounced in retort this bitter phillipic; “Miss Morton is Lord Morton’s daughter.”1811, [Jane Austen], chapter XII, in Sense and Sensibility […], volume II, London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 234
- "Sir Robert Akhurst is a good man, a very good man, notwithstanding his philippic; but he is an old one, which makes all the difference."1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XXXVII, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 172
- Synonyms:
- admonition, condemnation, diatribe, dithyramb, harangue, impugnation, j'accuse, jeremiad, polemic, rant
philippic meaning in Tamil and Malayalam
philippic in Tamil
- கடுங்கண்டனம் நிறைந்த சொற்பொழிவு, சாடல், கடுந்திட்டு
philippic in Malayalam
- diatribe, tirade, harangue
- അധിക്ഷേപഭാഷണം, ആക്ഷേപവും നിന്ദയും നിറഞ്ഞ പ്രസംഗം, നിന്ദാപ്രസംഗം, വാക്കുകൾ കൊണ്ടുള്ള കടുത്ത ആക്രമണം, പക്ഷാഭാസം, വ്യാജമായ പരാതി
Synonyms of philippic
3 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of philippic
| plural | philippics |
|---|---|
| alternative form | philippick |
Origin of philippic
From Latin philippicus, from Ancient Greek φιλιππικός (philippikós), from Φίλιππος (Phílippos, “lover of horses”), from φίλος (phílos, “loving”) + ἵππος (híppos, “horse”).
Words formed from philippic
Questions about philippic
- What does philippic mean?
- Philippic means any of the discourses of Demosthenes against Philip II of Macedon, defending the liberty of Athens.
- What is philippic in Tamil?
- Philippic in Tamil is கடுங்கண்டனம் நிறைந்த சொற்பொழிவு, சாடல், கடுந்திட்டு. See Philippic meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is philippic?
- Philippic is a noun.
- How do you pronounce philippic?
- Philippic is pronounced /fɪˈlɪpɪk/.
- What is the plural of philippic?
- The plural of philippic is philippics.
Words near philippic in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: philippic (page history and authors); philippic (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); philippic (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-philippic.wav.
Cite this entry: “philippic.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/philippic. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
