The first step we are going to take, before discovering the meaning of the term diatribe, is to know its etymological origin. In this case, we can state that it is a word that derives from Greek and is the result of the sum of two components of said language:
-The prefix “dia-”, which is used to indicate “through”.
-The verb “tribe”, which we can establish is synonymous with “rub”.
This is the name given to an expression or speech that is characterized by its virulence and aggressive content against something or someone.
For example: “The team coach was fined for his tirade against the judges,” “I think the deputy's tirade does not deserve any response,” “The actor's racist tirade was soon condemned by public opinion.”
Synonyms of diatribe are, therefore, words such as attack, satire, libel or invective. As for antonyms, we come across terms such as panegyric, praise or defense.
Violence is the main characteristic of a diatribe. In general, these messages are controversial and, sometimes, constitute an insult , since they usually include attacks and even defamation.
Suppose a soccer player is asked for his opinion on the referee's performance in a match. The athlete states: “He is a thief! I think someone paid him to harm us. Or maybe he is an inept person who is not qualified to lead any meeting. The truth is that he should not enter a playing field again because it does a lot of damage to football.” Due to the tenor of his words, his sayings can be defined as a diatribe.
Diatribes are frequent in areas where debates and dialectical confrontations are frequent, such as politics . That is why, within the framework of an electoral campaign , it is common for candidates to deliver diatribes before the media or before their followers with the intention of damaging the image of their rivals and, simultaneously, exalting their own.
Within the field of culture, the term that concerns us now has been used on more than one occasion to be able to give titles to songs, literary works, poems, works of art... A good example of this is the book “Diatribe of love against a man.” sitting".
It is a one-act monologue written by the author Gabriel García Márquez, Nobel Prize winner in Literature in 1982, which was published in 1994. He introduces us to a woman, Graciela, who has been married to her husband for 25 years. . What she does is go to him to express how unhappy she feels, that she is disenchanted with the marriage and even that her feelings have been on the decline.
However, that woman is not able to tell him that she no longer loves him. And if I were to expose it to him, it would be acknowledging that he has wasted that time at his side.