revile
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
revilesimple
-
revilessimple
-
have reviledperfect
-
has reviledperfect
-
am revilingprogressive
-
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
-
were revilingprogressive
-
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
Critics revile them for inflating housing costs, upending neighborhoods and contributing to the forces pushing locals and Native Hawaiians to leave Hawaii for less expensive states.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 20, 2024
Her life of looking closely at those we would rather revile or ignore has earned her attention in return.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2023
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
“No, no. We revile Anastasia. We like Antonia, the other blonde,” Mom explained.
From "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green
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
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
Known for its bright-yellow planes with “Howdy” painted on the wing tips, Spirit was lauded for ratcheting up competition for travelers’ dollars—and reviled for levying charges on everything from water to printed boarding passes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 2, 2026
Cortés remains a reviled figure to many in Mexico.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 18, 2026
Take Halle Berry, one of the more famous examples of the post-Oscar slump, winning best actress in 2001 for “Monster’s Ball” before starring in the critically reviled bomb that was 2004’s standalone “Catwoman” film.
From Salon ● Mar. 22, 2026
Everywhere I went in Tanganyika my skin color was automatically accepted rather than instantly reviled.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
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
Caliphate intellectuals are united in reviling the Islamic State, but beyond that, their projections of the future vary widely.
From New York Times ● Jan. 12, 2018
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
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
Hutchinson published a pamphlet reviling the Visitors, and pronouncing their decision invalid.
From The Commercial Restraints of Ireland by Hutchinson, John Hely
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.
