vehement
Americanadjective
-
a vehement defense;
vehement enthusiasm.
- Antonyms:
- dispassionate
-
characterized by rancor or anger; violent.
vehement hostility.
- Antonyms:
- dispassionate
-
strongly emotional; intense or passionate.
vehement desire.
-
marked by great energy or exertion; strenuous.
vehement clapping.
adjective
-
marked by intensity of feeling or conviction; emphatic
-
(of actions, gestures, etc) characterized by great energy, vigour, or force; furious
Other Word Forms
- nonvehement adjective
- overvehement adjective
- unvehement adjective
- vehemence noun
- vehemently adverb
Etymology
Origin of vehement
First recorded in 1475–85; from Latin vehement-, stem of vehemēns, vēmēns “violent, forceful”; of uncertain derivation
Explanation
You can use the adjective vehement to describe an extremely strong, powerful, or intense emotion or force. The teenager argued for a much later curfew in a vehement speech to her parents; her parents responded with an equally vehement “No way!” Vehement is from Latin and was originally applied to intense natural phenomena: pain, heat, wind, etc. It is now more commonly used for intense emotions or beliefs. With the adverb form, people can be vehemently in favor of something, but the more common usage is for people to be vehemently opposed to something. Many people, for example, are vehemently opposed to politicians they didn't vote for, other people spoiling the endings of movies or books, or someone else taking the last piece of chocolate. The stress is on the first syllable (VEE-uh-ment).
Vocabulary lists containing vehement
The SAT: Words to Capture Tone, List 1
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100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know
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"The Tell-Tale Heart," Vocabulary from the short story
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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.
Some of their children, including a nephew who is now in France, have become vehement critics.
From Barron's • Feb. 28, 2026
The announcement came just a few days after she and President Donald Trump had vehement disagreements over the release of Justice Department files related to late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
From BBC • Nov. 21, 2025
The times, then and now, the book implies, call for vehement exhortation.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 7, 2025
But online, this declaration of heroism was quickly complicated by vehement backlish.
From Salon • Dec. 11, 2024
Civil war is supposed to be the bitterest of wars, and surely family politics are the most vehement and venomous.
From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck
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.
