vituperate

American  

[vahy-too-puh-rayt, -tyoo-, vi-] / vaɪˈtu pəˌreɪt, -ˈtju-, vɪ- /

verb (used with object)

vituperated, vituperating

1. 

   to address with harsh or abusive language; revile.

   Synonyms:

   berate, vilify, censure

   Antonyms:

   commend, praise

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vituperate British  

/ vɪˈtjuːpəˌreɪt /

verb

1. to berate or rail (against) abusively; revile

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Other Word Forms

• vituperator
  noun
• unvituperated
  adjective

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Etymology

Origin of vituperate

First recorded in 1535–45; from Latin vituperātus (past participle of vituperāre “to spoil, blame”), equivalent to vituperā(re) ( vitu-, variant stem of vitium “defect, blemish, vice” + -perāre, combining form of parāre “to furnish, provide”; see prepare) + -tus past participle suffix; see -ate ¹

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Explanation

To vituperate is to speak or write in an extremely negative way about someone. Just as vituperation consists of negative, explosive, malicious outbursts, to vituperate is to communicate in this way. Negative political ads vituperate against opponents. When you insult someone and swear at them, you vituperate. People with a short temper tend to vituperate often — it's similar to railing, vilifying, and reviling. The root word is the Latin vituperationem, "blame or censuring," from vitium, "fault or defect."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

vituperate vituperated vituperating

Mr. Youngkin’s comment about Mr. Vance more or less obliges him not to vituperate the vice president in the usual way of presidential primaries.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026

They vituperate even though what she and Sanders have said is, well, true.

From The Guardian ● Dec. 20, 2017

Over the next dozen years, he would vituperate again and again against Roosevelt's seemingly mystical ability to direct the national conversation.

From Salon ● Apr. 10, 2011

And may I add a word of deep appreciation for the highly intelligent letter of Mr. Frank Vincent Waddy, on the subject of our vituperate critic, Cyril D. H. G. Dillington-Dowse.

From Time Magazine Archive

Deviation from scenic propriety has only to vituperate itself for the consequences it generates.

From Rejected Addresses by James Smith

Nonetheless his St. Denis working class constituents have twice more re-elected him although he was opposed and vituperated by Communist candidates.

From Time Magazine Archive

A speech from the poorer sort of people, which always indicates that the party vituperated is a gentleman.

From The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 2 Elia and The Last Essays of Elia by Charles Lamb

But Berlioz some years later vituperated him from quite another point of view.

From The Great Musicians: Rossini and His School by Henry Sutherland Edwards

Last time we met during the Balkan war I had vituperated him about the cutting off of noses.

From Twenty Years Of Balkan Tangle by M. E. (Mary Edith) Durham

He controlled no newspapers, vituperated nobody, championed nobody: he had no picked underlings; he used no bribes; there were no monstrous crimes alleged against him.

From Lord of the World by Robert Hugh Benson

Then, while he hesitated, came suddenly the sound of a shrill, vituperating voice from the house, a voice raised in a solo-like effect, the burden of which seemed both grief and rage, and contumely.

From The Debtor A Novel by William Dodge Stevens

In 1879 I heard the Irish members in the House of Commons vituperating him after a manner that subsequently became unpleasantly familiar, but was then regarded as a gross breach of the conventions of debate.

From The Reminiscences of an Irish Land Agent by Sir Home Gordon, Bart.

Now, this class of individuals entertain a mortal hatred for p. 355Lavengro and its writer, and never lose an opportunity of vituperating both. 

From The Romany Rye a sequel to "Lavengro" by Theodore Watts-Dunton

The yeomen separated the incensed priests, who continued to raise their voices, vituperating each other in bad Latin, which the Prior delivered the more fluently, and the Hermit with the greater vehemence.

From Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott

The intolerable injustice of vituperating the bribed to an assembly of bribers, has goaded their sense of justice beyond endurance.

From The Letters of Charles Dickens Vol. 2, 1857-1870 by Mamie Dickens

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