vilify
verb (used with object)
to speak ill of; defame; slander.
had vilified
-
past perfectof vilify.past perfect
Used to express a completed action that took place before another specific past action occurred.
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.
Nariman Tamimi had been expecting the raid: Over the previous week, an online campaign had vilified her daughter as a terrorist and demanded Ahed’s arrest.
From New York Times ● Nov. 27, 2023
He had not been so down since Milton had vilified him in that despicable piece of fiction, Paradise Lost.
From Slate ● Mar. 8, 2011
Then he became president and seized control of Bolivia’s petroleum industry, forming new joint-venture partnerships with some of the same foreign firms he had vilified.
From Washington Post
Quick to see his chance Defender Hogan roared to the jury that this Englishman had vilified American revolutionary leaders, had advised a yardarm hanging for George Washington.
From Time Magazine Archive
But I had much to suffer from their repugnances and many infidelities—one of whom had vilified me greatly—and even after his conversion turned aside into his old ways.
From The Autobiography of Madame Guyon by Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte Guyon
