polemic.

A forceful speech or piece of writing that attacks a belief, position, or institution.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• political polemic
• polemic against censorship

On the page

The pamphlet was a polemic against the government's use of emergency powers.

Usage notes

Primary category: analysis / argumentation / evidence. Forms: Singular polemic; plural polemics. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: claim, critique. Commonness: moderately common.