revile
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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revilesimple
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revilessimple
-
have reviledperfect
-
has reviledperfect
-
am revilingprogressive
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are revilingprogressive
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is revilingprogressive
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have been revilingperfect progressive
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has been revilingperfect progressive
Past
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reviledsimple
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had reviledperfect
-
was revilingprogressive
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were revilingprogressive
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had been revilingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of revile
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English revilen, from Middle French reviler; see re-, vile
Explanation
If something is reviled, you alone don’t dislike it; a whole community of like-minded souls has to hate its guts. For instance, spam is widely reviled. (The junk e-mails, not the potted meat. Somebody out there really does like that potted meat.) If you’re the only one who hates, say, your math teacher, it’s not fair to say that person is reviled. If she is majestically unpopular with the entire senior class and is routinely the butt of geometry-themed insults, well then sadly, this instructor is indeed reviled. Generally, when someone or something is reviled, much of the poison aimed is in print, such as critical reviews or insulting editorials.
Vocabulary lists containing revile
100 SAT words Beginning with "R"
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Heart of Darkness
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The Bluest Eye
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But amid the ruins near the turquoise waters of the Caribbean coast, the effort is colliding with ordinary Venezuelans who revile their government.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026
Published this month by the University of Georgia Press, Thurmond’s book makes a case that Oglethorpe evolved to revile slavery and, unlike most white Europeans of his time, saw the humanity in enslaved Africans.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 16, 2024
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely,
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2023
You might not like him, maybe you revile him, but Doc Rivers is the right coach to replace Frank Vogel, writes L.A.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 11, 2022
Oh, a wife may revile such a man with every silent curse she knows.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, a fellow New York Republican who reviles Santos, introduced a bill this year aimed at foreclosing just that possibility.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 2, 2023
Rather, he is a man who has been so deformed and twisted by a society that reviles him that he can only stand up tall when he has been cast out of it.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 20, 2022
To his credit, Wolff is astute and a little shamefaced when analysing the complicity between Trump and the journalists whom he officially reviles.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 1, 2020
“When the film finds a global audience, it might feel very real if you live in a community that reviles love that doesn’t occur between two heterosexuals,” Mantello says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2020
"He has no coin and the only knight who follows him reviles him as less than a snake. The Dothraki make mock of his weakness. He will never take us home."
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
Her candor has been revered as much as it’s been reviled.
From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026
Philips is one of India's best-known - and most polarising - doctors online: admired by supporters as a fearless champion of evidence-based medicine, reviled by critics as an attention-seeking provocateur.
From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2026
“He does not ask us to applaud Lyutov’s sweet Jewish soul without revealing how it was reviled and how it could be destroyed by those he was eager to claim as his brothers.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026
The promoter will be allowed to keep Ticketmaster — the reviled, essential ticket-selling platform — as part of its portfolio.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 10, 2026
I leave us with the country roused against us, and our liberator and commander reviled.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
While the original XFL made a show of reviling the stodgy NFL, this iteration embraces its status as an aspirant upstart.
From Slate ● Feb. 10, 2020
Which is to say that he can never escape that St. Louis comic or that reviling mother or Aunt Fritzi or “Haim Afen Range” or, for that matter, Joel Katz.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 3, 2016
“We mustn’t be afraid of people reviling us, mustn’t be afraid of them saying we have a bad reputation, mustn’t be afraid of international reaction,” Mr. Li quoted Mr. Deng as saying on April 25.
From New York Times ● Apr. 25, 2014
Their purpose in reviling Grass as a Nazi and anti-Semite is precisely to silence anyone who might even consider following his lead.
From Salon ● Jun. 13, 2012
Wilt thou forgive his foul reviling of miracles?” inquired Mefres.
From The Pharaoh and the Priest An Historical Novel of Ancient Egypt by Glovatski, Alexander
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
