revile
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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has reviledperfect 3rd person singular
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have reviledperfect
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am revilingprogressive 1st person singular
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is revilingprogressive 3rd person singular
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are revilingprogressive
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has been revilingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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revilingparticiple
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have been revilingperfect progressive
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revilessingular 3rd person
Past
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had reviledperfect
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were revilingprogressive plural
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had been revilingperfect progressive
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reviledparticiple
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reviledsimple
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was revilingprogressive singular
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.
Revile that nation-saving paper, Which gave the Dean the name of Drapier?
From The Poems of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Volume 2 by Browning, William Ernst
"Revile not, harm not, live by rule restrained; Of food take little; sleep and sit alone; In meditation keep thy thoughts controlled"— This is the message of the Awakened Ones.
From The Buddha's Path of Virtue A Translation of the Dhammapada by Woodward, Frank Lee
Revile him not—the Tempter hath A snare for all; And pitying tears, not scorn and wrath, Befit his fall.”
From Expansion and Conflict by Dodd, William E.
Use no Reproachfull Language against any one neither Curse nor Revile Hawkins iii.
From George Washington's Rules of Civility Traced to their Sources and Restored by Moncure D. Conway by Conway, Moncure Daniel
Revile him not! the tempter hath A snare for all; And pitying tears, not scorn and wrath, Befit his fall.
From A History of the Nineteenth Century, Year by Year Volume Two (of Three) by Emerson, Edwin
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.
