vilify

Instead, they have unleashed a storm of nit-picking and vilification.
Niall Ferguson Defends Newsweek Cover: Correct This, Bloggers|Niall Ferguson|August 21, 2012|DAILY BEAST
The good news for Canada is that these acts of vilification have been met with resounding criticism from political leaders.
Call it What You Want, "Post-Zionism" is Anti-Zionism|David Frum|March 17, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Matthew Dowd, a former strategist for George W. Bush, said the GOP “wants passion and wants the vilification of the president.”
Candidates Wanted: Republicans' Void for 2012|Jill Lawrence|May 24, 2011|DAILY BEAST
Hence sophistry and vilification take the place of knowledge and reason.
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, March 1899|Various

All this vilification is really the tribute that mediocrity pays to genius.
Thomas Paine, The Apostle of Liberty|John E. Remsburg
Campaigns of vilification, corruption and false pretence have lost their usefulness.
The Art of Public Speaking|Dale Carnagey (AKA Dale Carnegie) and J. Berg Esenwein
Such ignorance, fertilized by ill will, bore the only fruit which could grow in such soil: abuse and vilification.
Benjamin Franklin|John Torrey Morse, Jr.
Daily abuse and vilification have been his portion and reward.
'The System,' as uncovered by the San Francisco Graft Prosecution|Franklin Hichborn

British Dictionary definitions for vilification

vilify

/ (ˈvɪlɪˌfaɪ) /

verb -fies, -fying or -fied (tr)

to revile with abusive or defamatory language; malignhe has been vilified in the tabloid press

rare to make vile; debase; degrade

Derived Forms

vilification (ˌvɪlɪfɪˈkeɪʃən), nounvilifier, noun

Word Origin for vilify

C15: from Late Latin vīlificāre, from Latin vīlis worthless + facere to make

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012