noun. a statement of praise, laudation, eulogy; elaborate praise.
A panegyric is a formal type of speech, now most commonly found in a eulogy— it’s a speech written only to praise its subject, nothing more.
However, this is a word that can be used sarcastically in a sort of over-the-top way. It can literally mean a statement of praise, eulogy or no, but it can also be used to mean someone is laying it on a little thick.
The archbishop in Gil Blas was not more touchy upon any criticism that was not panegyric.
—Ernest Maltravers by Baron Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton (pub. 1837)Then had come Lord Henry Wotton with his strange panegyric on youth, his terrible warning of its brevity.
—The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (pub. 1890)
Etymology, working backward:
French panégyrique (same meaning)
Latin panegyricus (public eulogy)
Greek πανηγυρικός / panēgyrikos (speech given in public assembly)
πανήγυρις / panēgyris (public assembly
παν / pan (all)
ἄγυρις / agyris (place of assembly)
ἀγορά / agora (open assembly place)
Usage, according to the Google’s NGrams Viewer (may not be perfectly accurate):
For context, note that ‘the’ usually floats at ~4%.