invective

Etymology

From Middle French invective, from Medieval Latin invectiva (“abusive speech”), from Latin invectīvus, from invectus, perfect passive participle of invehō (“bring in”), from in- + vehō (“carry”). See vehicle, and compare with inveigh.

noun

1. An expression which inveighs or rails against a person.
2. A severe or violent censure or reproach.
3. Something spoken or written, intended to cast shame, disgrace, censure, or reproach on another.
   And wordy attacks against slavery drew sneers from observers which were not altogether undeserved. The authors were compared to doctors who offered to a patient nothing more than invectives against the disease which consumed him. 1963, C.L.R. James, The Black Jacobins, 2nd Revised edition, page 24
   [A] savage passage of 14th-century invective about the text-obsessed nerdiness of the Florentine bibliophile and friend of Petrarch, Niccolò Niccoli ... 14 September 2013, Jane Shilling, “The Golden Thread: the Story of Writing, by Ewan Clayton, review [print edition: Illuminating language]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review), page R28
4. A harsh or reproachful accusation.
   Politics can raise invective to a low art.

adj

1. Characterized by invection or railing.
   Tom's speeches became diatribes — each more invective than the last.