vilify
to speak ill of; defame; slander.
Obsolete. to make vile.
Origin of vilify
1Other words for vilify
Opposites for vilify
Other words from vilify
- vil·i·fi·ca·tion [vil-uh-fi-key-shuhn], /ˌvɪl ə fɪˈkeɪ ʃən/, noun
- vil·i·fi·er, noun
- vil·i·fy·ing·ly, adverb
- un·vil·i·fied, adjective
Words that may be confused with vilify
- vilify , villainize
Words Nearby vilify
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use vilify in a sentence
Both Irene and Clare are at once the villains and the victims of a society that would force them to choose one existence over another, vilifying Claire’s choices in one breath and praising Irene’s fair skin in the next.
Colorism Is Just The Tip Of The Iceberg In ‘Passing’ | Brande Victorian | February 1, 2021 | Essence.comWilkie used this language despite a caution from one of his own senior lawyers, who suggested rephrasing to avoid “deterring women veterans from coming forward” by “overly vilifying” Goldstein, according to the report.
VA Secretary Focused on Smearing Woman Who Said She Was Sexually Assaulted in a VA Hospital, Probe Finds | by Isaac Arnsdorf | December 10, 2020 | ProPublicaThese facts will make it more difficult — more egregiously shameful — to vilify the arts as elite, out of touch or apart from the mainstream of American life.
Transformed by crisis, arts criticism may never be the same. And that’s a good thing. | Philip Kennicott | November 29, 2020 | Washington PostWhile she’s been embraced by voters in neighborhoods most affected by crime and policing, she’s been vilified in communities where most of the city’s police officers live.
As Trump Calls for Law and Order, Can Chicago’s Top Prosecutor Beat the Charge That She’s Soft on Crime? | by Mick Dumke | September 4, 2020 | ProPublicaI took on my own party and my own president on this, and I was vilified, and I was called a traitor and a RINO.
But it remains a moral crime to vilify good cops who have made the city safe, saving thousands of lives.
And there is the additional fear in these types of cases that the public will vilify the victim, not a celebrity wrongdoer.
With few Yankees left to vilify, Venezuela continues its slow motion spin into disrepair.
Venezuela’s Audio Hoax Sees Chavez Speaking From the Grave | Mac Margolis | October 8, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTRather than vilify Republicans for their defense of the wealthy, he returned again to trying to win the intellectual high ground.
Once upon a pre-feminist time, it was more common to vilify the woman.
On the other hand, I could not bring myself by lengthy or impossible quotations to vilify Duns.
The Mediaeval Mind (Volume II of II) | Henry Osborn TaylorTo vilify another is foolish; to repeat it, is the function of a rogue.
The Eugenic Marriage, Vol. 3 (of 4) | W. Grant HagueI should require "a character" at some time or another, and there was a body of men primed and ready to vilify and crush me.
Again he calls upon his fawning admirers to annihilate Christianity, to hunt it down, to vilify it, to ruin it.
The War Upon Religion | Rev. Francis A. CunninghamBut what would become of "bad tongues" in this world if there were not generous natures to calumniate and vilify?
Sir Jasper Carew | Charles James Lever
British Dictionary definitions for vilify
/ (ˈvɪlɪˌfaɪ) /
to revile with abusive or defamatory language; malign: he has been vilified in the tabloid press
rare to make vile; debase; degrade
Origin of vilify
1Derived forms of vilify
- vilification (ˌvɪlɪfɪˈkeɪʃən), noun
- vilifier, noun
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
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