vile
Americanadjective
-
wretchedly bad.
a vile humor.
- Antonyms:
- good
-
highly offensive, unpleasant, or objectionable.
vile slander.
-
repulsive or disgusting, as to the senses or feelings.
a vile odor.
- Synonyms:
- repellent
-
morally debased, depraved, or despicable.
vile deeds.
- Synonyms:
- iniquitous, evil, vicious
- Antonyms:
- elevated
-
foul; filthy.
vile language.
-
poor; wretched.
vile workmanship.
-
of mean or low condition.
a vile beggar.
-
menial; lowly.
vile tasks.
-
degraded; ignominious.
vile servitude.
- Synonyms:
- contemptible
-
of little value or account; paltry.
a vile recompense.
- Synonyms:
- trifling, trivial, contemptible
adjective
-
abominably wicked; shameful or evil
the vile development of slavery appalled them
-
morally despicable; ignoble
vile accusations
-
disgusting to the senses or emotions; foul
a vile smell
vile epithets
-
tending to humiliate or degrade
only slaves would perform such vile tasks
-
unpleasant or bad
vile weather
-
paltry
a vile reward
Synonym Usage
See mean 2.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of vile
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English vil, from Old French, from Latin vīlis “of little worth, base, cheap”
Explanation
Surely only an evil person could be so vile as to have made you so angry. Vile is something or someone so morally wrong or offensive as to be thoroughly disgusting. Are you appalled by someone’s sordid, despicable, ugly and just generally awful behavior? Then it’s probably vile, too. One of those dramatic adjectives with many synonyms, the word vile is not only used to describe a person or an action that is morally reprehensible; it can describe a smell that is so bad as to be practically morally reprehensible — or something else that offends your senses enough to make you nauseous. Those three month old dirty gym socks? They’re vile!
Vocabulary lists containing vile
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"Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare, Act III
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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:
Ms. Hodge is wonderfully vile as Miriam and her counterpart, Lady Margaret Chalfont.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
Part of their story, then, is that it’s a vile myth that pregnancy and motherhood can be hard on women.
From Salon ● Aug. 26, 2026
A new breeze baptized us in another vile stink.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
The Social Democratic and Labour Party councillor for the area, Karol McQuade, said the mosque display was "vile, dangerous and deeply irresponsible".
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026
It was a vile town, a sty, small and mean and rank with the odors of pig shit and rotting fish.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
Presidents, there was "no viler oaf" than Woodrow Wilson.
From Time Magazine Archive
Life calls for adjectives that mean better than best, viler than vile, cooler than cool.
From Time Magazine Archive
I have never known a viler or more shameful ease than that that possessed me when it became plain that I could go back on him and he be none the wiser.
From The Tower of Oblivion by Oliver [pseud.] Onions
The nearer to the city the viler grew the road and the more overwhelming the curiosity of the inhabitants.
From From Sea to Sea Letters of Travel by Rudyard Kipling
You are hot from an inn full of the viler type of cyclist, and I presume that, after their custom, they mocked at your machinery.
From Select Conversations with an Uncle (Now Extinct) And Two Other Reminiscences by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
Sit in front of a screen and suffer an endless stream of the vilest videos the internet can offer, approving or denying each clip’s right to stay on a given platform.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026
Generations of Americans have held firm to a version of free speech that makes room for even the vilest of views.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 12, 2024
There are some who say the vilest things imaginable.
From Salon ● Oct. 26, 2021
They invite our scorn, which is not to say they are immune to our pity: Even the vilest character turns out to be in the grip of a deeply misguided longing for transcendence.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2020
“Use your power,” she said, “and make the hussy fall madly in love with the vilest and most despicable creature there is in the whole world.”
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
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.
