vilify

English

WOTD – 27 February 2007

Etymology

From Late Latin vīlificāre (“vilify”). Equivalent to vile +‎ -ify.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɪl.ɪ.faɪ/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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Verb

vilify (third-person singular simple present vilifies, present participle vilifying, simple past and past participle vilified)

1. (transitive) To say defamatory things about someone or something; to speak ill of.

   Synonyms: abuse, assail, criticize, decry, denigrate, demonize, denounce, libel, revile, slander, run down; see also Thesaurus:defame

   Antonyms: glorify, praise

2. (transitive) To belittle through speech; to put down.

   Synonyms: berate; see also Thesaurus:criticize

   Antonyms: glorify, praise

   • 2016 April 18, Cristina Alesci, “Monsanto CEO frustrated over 'polarized' GMO debate”, in CNN Business‎:

     As one of the largest producers of genetically modified (GM) seeds in the country, Monsanto has been vilified by activists who describe GM products as 'frankenfood.'

   • 2021 March 2, Jason Scott, 王晰宁 [Wang Xining], “China Rips Murdoch’s News Corp. for Reports on Pandemic Origins”, in Bloomberg News‎, archived from the original on 3 March 2021:

     "Those who deliberately vilify China and sabotage the friendship between our two countries and do damage to our long-term friendship and benefits out of their sectoral or selfish interest will be cast aside in history,” he said. “Their children will be ashamed of mentioning their names."

Derived terms

• vilification
• vilifiable
• vilifier

Related terms

• vile

Translations

say defamatory things about; to speak ill of

Azerbaijani: pisləmək, yamanlamaq, qaralamaq Bulgarian: клеветя (bg) (klevetja), очерням (bg) (očernjam) Chinese: Mandarin: 詆毀 / 诋毁 (zh) (dǐhuǐ), 醜化 / 丑化 (zh) (chǒuhuà) Czech: pomluvit (cs) pf, pomlouvat (cs) impf, hanět (cs) impf, pohanět (cs) pf, očernit pf Dutch: verguizen (nl) Egyptian: (dsj) Finnish: puhua pahaa (fi), herjata (fi) French: diffamer (fr), vilipender (fr) Galician: deostar, denigrar (gl) Georgian: გაშავება (gašaveba), გალანძღვა (galanʒɣva), ძაგება (ʒageba) German: diffamieren (de), verleumden (de), verunglimpfen (de), verteufeln (de) Greek: Ancient: κακηγορέω (kakēgoréō) Hungarian: rágalmaz (hu) Italian: denigrare (it), vilipendere (it) Japanese: 貶す (ja) (kenasu), 謗る (ja) (soshiru) Maori: whakahariharitae, whakataraweti Polish: oczerniać (pl) Portuguese: vilificar, vilipendiar (pt), difamar (pt) Romanian: denigra (ro) Russian: очерня́ть (ru) (očernjátʹ), поноси́ть (ru) (ponosítʹ) Scottish Gaelic: càin Spanish: vilipendiar (es) Turkish: yermek (tr)

denounce, belittle through speech

Czech: urazit (cs) pf, ponížit pf, hanět (cs) impf, špinit (cs) impf, pošpinit (cs) pf, ponižovat (cs) impf, urážet impf, pohanět (cs) pf, očernit pf Dutch: kleineren (nl) Finnish: panetella (fi), parjata (fi) French: dénigrer (fr), vilipender (fr) Galician: denigrar (gl) Georgian: დამცირება (damcireba), ძაგება (ʒageba) German: herabwürdigen (de), heruntermachen, schlechtmachen (de), herunterputzen (de) Japanese: 貶める (ja) (otoshimeru) Maori: whakahariharitae Polish: potępiać (pl) Portuguese: difamar (pt), diminuir (pt) Russian: унижа́ть (ru) (unižátʹ), опуска́ть (ru) (opuskátʹ) (colloquial) Scottish Gaelic: càin Turkish: azarlamak (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Spanish: (please verify) acusar (es)