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jeremiad

Meaning

A prolonged and impassioned expression of grief, sorrow, or complaint, often delivered as a public address.

Examples by difficulty

Basic: Simple, everyday vocabulary — the easiest to read.

The old man stood on the corner, his voice cracking. His long, sad speech about lost jobs and broken promises felt like a true jeremiad. Everyone stopped to listen to his deep, heartfelt complaints, a public cry of sorrow.

The old mechanic, grease under his fingernails, launched into a long, sad jeremiad about how nobody cared about fixing things properly anymore. He lamented the throwaway culture, his voice thick with emotion, as he pointed to a rusted piece of machinery, a symbol of his lost craft.

The old farmer stood by his barren field, his voice thick with a long, sad complaint about the endless drought. His jeremiad, a public outpouring of his deep sorrow and worry, echoed across the empty land, a plea for help that no one could answer.

My Uncle Barry's annual birthday speech was a real jeremiad. He went on and on about how hard it is to find good socks these days, lamenting the passing of comfy, thick ones. His lengthy complaint about flat soda made everyone chuckle.

The esteemed toastmaster, a man whose eyebrows had waged a silent war for decades, launched into his epic jeremiad. He wailed about the tragedy of lukewarm soup, the sheer injustice of unbuttered scones, and the existential dread of finding only one sock in the laundry.

Normal: Standard, everyday language.

The old man stood on the hill, his voice rough with years of worry. He launched into a familiar jeremiad, lamenting the decline of the town, the loss of its old ways. His words tumbled out, a torrent of sorrow and deep unhappiness about everything that had changed.

The grizzled prospector, his canteen long empty, stood atop the barren ridge. His voice, raspy and strained, echoed across the desolate canyons, a jeremiad of lost veins and phantom fortunes, lamenting the unforgiving earth and the crushing weight of his failed quest.

The old man stood on the dusty wharf, his weathered hands clenched, delivering a long, bitter jeremiad about the disappearing kelp forests. His voice, hoarse with a lifetime of watching the sea change, echoed with a deep sorrow for the creatures that once thrived in the now barren waters.

Barnaby launched into a full-blown jeremiad about the tragic shortage of sprinkles on his ice cream. His wails about the injustice of it all echoed through the park, a prolonged and impassioned expression of sorrow that had everyone within earshot stifling giggles.

The badger, still damp from his ill-advised dip in the artisanal kombucha vat, launched into a lengthy jeremiad about the indignity of it all, his voice a gravelly lament for his lost fur integrity and the general unfairness of gravity when one is attempting to retrieve a rogue sourdough starter.

Advanced: Richer vocabulary that stretches an upper-level reader.

The old man's voice cracked as he began his jeremiad, a mournful account of lost opportunities and broken promises. His sorrow spilled out, a torrent of regret and despair that filled the quiet room. Everyone listened, touched by the raw pain of his prolonged complaint.

The old prospector stood on the ridge, his voice cracking with a prolonged jeremiad about the dwindling veins of ore and the endless, unforgiving sun. Each word dripped with the sorrow of a life spent chasing a dream that had finally turned to dust, a public lament for his lost fortune.

The elderly prospector, his face weathered by decades of fruitless searching, launched into a bitter jeremiad about the vanished gold vein. His voice, raspy with despair, detailed every disappointment, every false hope, a prolonged lament for his wasted years and the fortune that slipped through his fingers.

The aging comedian launched into a lengthy jeremiad about the deplorable state of modern joke construction. His impassioned lament, filled with tales of punchlines gone rogue and audiences utterly bewildered, painted a vivid picture of comedic despair, punctuated by dramatic sighs and the occasional hurled banana peel.

The esteemed mayor, a man whose pronouncements usually resembled the rustle of dry leaves, launched into a bewildering jeremiad about the existential threat posed by rogue squirrels hoarding artisanal acorns. His impassioned lament painted a grim picture of our community’s future, reduced to gnawed husks and a profound sense of avian injustice.

Challenging: Rare, high-register vocabulary for serious word lovers.

He delivered a full jeremiad, his voice resonating with palpable anguish. The protracted lament, a public outpouring of his profound sorrow and unyielding complaints, left the assembled throng subdued and introspective, their own burdens seemingly magnified by his eloquent distress.

The lone stargazer, gazing at the encroaching light pollution, launched into a bitter jeremiad about the desecration of the cosmos. His prolonged, impassioned complaint lamented the loss of celestial wonder, a sorrowful address to an indifferent planet.

The prospect of the algae bloom suffocating the bioluminescent fungi was more than Bartholomew could bear. He launched into a prolonged jeremiad, his voice cracking with despair, lamenting the irreversible desolation that would befall the subterranean ecosystem, a lamentation of profound, heartbroken sorrow for the dying light.

Barnaby, a portly and perpetually perturbed pundit, launched into a magnificent jeremiad about the egregious dearth of proper crumpets. His vociferous laments, a veritable paean to pastry deprivation, echoed through the salon, detailing the lamentable decline in their buttery succulence and perfectly porous texture.

Bartholomew, a purveyor of artisanal squirrelly fig newtons, launched into a particularly protracted jeremiad, lamenting the egregious decline in the availability of ethically sourced, heirloom acorns. His impassioned complaints, punctuated by mournful sighs and flailing appendages, painted a bleak tableau of our society's culinary degeneracy.

Difficulty

Challenging — Rare, high-register words for serious word lovers.

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