jeremiad

noun

Etymology: From French jérémiade, from Jérémie, from Latin Ieremias, from Hebrew ירמיה (yirm'yá, “Jeremiah”). Named after biblical prophet Jeremiah, who lamented the moral state of Judah and predicted her downfall.

1. A long speech or prose work that bitterly laments the state of society and its morals, and often contains a prophecy of its coming downfall.

   “Near-synonyms: diatribe, tirade, lamentation, lament, litany; see also Thesaurus:diatribe”

   “"Father Maguire," he said in the broadest of Cork brogues, without the ghost of a smile on his grave Irish face, "is it a song yez wantin'? Well, thin, it's just a jeremiad I 'd be singin' yez, an' not another song at all, at all."”