vulgus
Americannoun
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vulguses
plural
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the common people; masses.
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an exercise in Latin formerly required of English public-school pupils.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of vulgus
Borrowed into English from Latin around 1680–90
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.
He was accused, as the idle world always loves to accuse the visionary, of isolating himself from his kind with a muttered odi profanum vulgus et arceo.
From Aspects and Impressions by Edmund Gosse
The refinement of Rome might loftily echo Odi profanum vulgus et arceo: but Rome has herself fallen; and not on the portals of future science or of humanity shall any such motto be written.
From The Christian Religion An Enquiry by Robert Green Ingersoll
More of a concio ad vulgus than the former, it shows a pretty obvious endeavour to soften and popularise, without unduly vulgarising, the academic tone of the earlier work.
From Matthew Arnold by George Saintsbury
It is from vulgus, the common people, the mob, and means both common and unrefined, but has no relation to indecency.
From Write It Right A Little Blacklist of Literary Faults by Ambrose Bierce
The old maxim recorded by Bacon, "Loquendum ut vulgus, sentiendum ut sapientes,"—"We should speak as the vulgar, but think as the wise," is not to be taken without some limitation.
From The Grammar of English Grammars by Goold Brown
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