INVECTIVE

[Dr. Goodword]

• invective •

Pronunciation: in-vek-tiv • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: An abusive or profane denunciation, castigation, a railing condemnation.

Notes: This Good Word is quite versatile: it may be used as a mass noun (to heap on invective) or a count noun (a speech filled with invectives). It is also an adjective: invective language. This word is the noun from the verb inveigh, as to inveigh against the injustices of the world.

In Play: Save today's good word for outrageous railing: "Rather than suggest measures to reduce tensions in the office, Donny Brooke unleashed a torrent of invective about plots and conspiracies to undermine his authority." This is how today's word is used as a mass noun; it may also be used as a countable one: "Dad treated us all with a sermon on the decay of society bristling with invectives against rap music."

Word History: Latin invehi "to attack with words, inveigh against", the passive form of invehere "to carry in" based on in "in" + vehere "to carry", whose root is visible in the Latin borrowing, vehicle. The root of the Latin verb came from an earlier Proto-Indo-European root wegh- "to carry (in a vehicle)". The same root ended up little changed in English weigh, referring to the movement of something in a balance scale. The semantic connection is clearer in wagon, a means of carrying, Germanic way, and Latin via "way, road", where wagons travel. Vex came to us from the same root in Latin vexare [vek-s-are] "to agitate" and originally meant to set someone in motion. The English derivatives wag and wiggle reflect the same semantic connection.

[Slava]

This is a good word to add to our word of 3/30/10.

"Vituperative invective"

Yum.