Vilify

Definition: Vilify

Vilify

Verb

1. Spread negative information about; "The Nazi propaganda vilified the Jews".

Date "vilify" was first used: 1450. (references)

Note: Vilify \Vil"i*fy\, transitive verb. [imperative past participle Vilified; present participle verb or noun Vilifying.]. (Websters 1913)

Synonyms: Vilify

Synonyms: rail (v), revile (v), vituperate (v). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Detraction	Verb: detract, derogate, decry, deprecate, depreciate, disparage; run down, cry down; backcap; belittle; sneer at; (contemn); criticize, pull to pieces, pick a hole in one's coat, asperse, cast aspersions, blow upon, bespatter, blacken, vilify, vilipend; avile; give a dog a bad name, brand, malign; muckrake; backbite, libel, lampoon, traduce, slander, defame, calumniate, bear false witness against; speak ill of behind one's back.
Disapprobation	Execrate; exprobate, speak daggers, vituperate; abuse, abuse like a pickpocket; scold, rate, objurgate, upbraid, fall foul of; jaw; rail, rail at, rail in good set terms; bark at; anathematize, call names; call by hard names, call by ugly names; avile, revile; vilify, vilipend; bespatter; backbite; clapperclaw; rave against, thunder against, fulminate against; load with reproaches.
Disrepute	Impute shame to, brand, post, stigmatize, vilify, defame, slur, cast a slur upon, hold up to shame, send to Coventry; tread under foot, trample under foot; show up, drag through the mire, heap dirt upon; reprehend.
Disrespect	Speak slightingly of; disparage; (dispraise); vilipend, vilify, call names; throw dirt, fling dirt; drag through the mud, point at, indulge in personalities; make mouths, make faces; bite the thumb; take by the beard; pluck by the beard; toss in a blanket, tar and feather.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Crosswords: Vilify

English words defined with "vilify": Avile ♦ Vilified, Vilifying. (references)

Author	Quotation
Edgar Allan Poe	To vilify a great man is the readiest way in which a little man can himself attain greatness.
Pierre De Beaumarchais	Vilify, Vilify, some of it will always stick.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

"Vilify" is generally used as a lexical verb (infinitive) -- approximately 58.33% of the time. "Vilify" is used about 12 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Lexical Verb (infinitive)	58.33%	7	133,076
Lexical Verb (base form)	41.67%	5	157,705
Total	100.00%	12	N/A

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "vilify"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		shpif për dikë, përgojoj (backbite, defame, slander, traduce). (various references)

Arabic		‏قذف (accuse of, aspersion, calumniate, cast, casting, charge with, defamation, defame, discharge, disgorge, ejaculation, eject, ejectment, emit, expel, extrude, extrusion, fling, libel, malediction, malign, mud, mudslinging, obloquy, pelt, pelt with, pitch, projection, puke, row, scandal, slander, speak evil of, strike with, striking, throw, throw out, throwing, toss, vituperate, vomit), ‏حط من قدره (derogate, derogatory, disparage, follow one's nose, hurt his feelings), ‏ذم (asperse, blacken, blackguard, disparage, disparagement, dispraise, invective, slur, vituperate, vituperation), ‏شهر (give notoriety, illuminate, malign, month, pillory, proclaim, slander), ‏شوه سمعته (calumniate). (various references)

Bulgarian		хуля (declaim, denigrate, inveigh, miscall, vituperate), клеветя (asperse, bad-mouth, bespatter, calumniate, defame, denigrate, libel, slander, slur, spatter, traduce), очерням (blacken, cloud, denigrate, dirty, slander), оклеветявам (defame, wrong), злословя по адрес на (slander). (various references)

Chinese		誣�"� (slander, smear), 惎 (injure). (various references)

Czech		zlehèovat (detract, make light of, palliate), tupit (revile, vituperate), ponižovat, hanobit (defame, dishonor, dishonour, libel, revile, slander). (various references)

Farsi		بهتان زدن , بدنام کردن (Blemish, Calumniate, Defame, Denigrate, Lynch, Malign), بدگوءی کردن . (various references)

French		diffamer, calomnier. (various references)

German		verunglimpfen (calumniate, decry, denigrate, disparage, libel, revile, smear, to denigrate, to disparage, to revile), schmähen (abuse, blaspheme, calumniate, contumely, inveigh against, revile, vituperate). (various references)

Greek		κακολογώ (asperse, backbite, badmouth, decry, defame, denigrate, gossip, malign, miscall, speak ill of), υβρίζω (abuse, insult, inveigle, rail, revise, taunt, vituperate), εξευτελίζω (abase, debase, degrade, demean, depredate, derogate, discredit, humiliate), δυσφημώ (bespatter, black, blacken, decry, defame, denigrate, discredit, disparage, libel, malign, slander, slur, traduce). (various references)

Hebrew		לחרף (abuse, call names, insult, reproach, revile, swear), ל�"שמיץ (back bite, badmouth, blacken, defame, denigrate, malign, slander, slur, smear, stigmatize, traduce), ל�'�"ף (abuse, blackguard, curse, defame, insult, revile, slang, taunt, vituperate). (various references)

Hungarian		becsmérel (asperse, blackguard, decry, depreciate, disparage, malign, miscall, to abuse, to decry, to defame, to deprave, to depreciate, to detract, to disparage, to malign, to miscall, to revile, to vilify, to write down). (various references)

Italian		diffamare (asperse, blacken, defame, libel, malign, slander, smear, traduce). (various references)

Manx		caartrey (abuse, abusiveness, denigrate, denigration, slander, slandering, vilification). (various references)

Pig Latin		ilifyvay

Portuguese		vilipendiar (vilipend), difamar (asperse, belie, blacken, blemish, defame, detract, libel, malign, reproach, scandalize, slander, smirch, speak evil of, stain, traduce), desacreditar (attaint, debunk, decry, discredit, disgraceful, impeachment, reproach), denegrir (blacken, crab, denigrate, disparage), caluniar (abuse, asperse, backbite, calumniate, decry, defame, libel, malign, slander, slanderer), aviltar (debase, degrade, demean, profanity, shame, smirch). (various references)

Romanian		defãima (asperse, belie, black, blemish, bring reproach upon, calumniate, cast a slur upon, defame, denigrate, depreciate, disparage, libel, put a slur upon, slander, slur, smear, spatter, traduce). (various references)

Russian		поносить (blaspheme, bullyrag, defame, revile, stigmatize, vituperate). (various references)

Scottish		m� b (abuse, reproach angrily), dìomol (disparage). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		omalovažavati (disdain, disrespect, slight, underestimate), oklevetati (asperse, defame, denigrate, hurl, libel, malign, slander, smear), ogovarati (backbite, badmouth, slander, speak ill of). (various references)

Spanish		vilipendiar (blackguard, revile). (various references)

Swedish		förtala (asperse, cast aspersions on, defame, libel, misrepresent, slander, traduce). (various references)

Turkish		yermek (revile, revile against smth., revile at smth., satirize, slander), kötülemek (back bite, backbite, cry down, decry, defame, denigrate, discredit, disparage, dispraise, do down, revile, revile against smth., revile at smth., run down, slander, speak ill of), iftira etmek (asperse, back bite, backbite, be defamatory of smb., bespatter, calumniate, cast a slur on, cast the blame, defame, denigrate, malign, put a slur on, scandalize, slander, smut, speak evil of, traduce). (various references)

Ukranian		ганьбити (abuse, animadvert, asperse, attaint, besmirch, blaspheme, defame, disgrace, inveigh, reproach, scandalize, shame, soil, spot, stain, tarnish, tongue, vituperate, wrong), принижувати (belittle, невимушенІсть [f], deject, demean, derogate, detract, humble, humiliate, lower, mortify, slur, snub, spite). (various references)

Welsh		pardduo (besmirch, blacken, defame). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	vilis. (various references)
Late Latin	300-700	vilificare. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "vilify": vilifying. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Vilify" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: ility, vakif, vili, villefy, villify, Viloft, vinify. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "vilify" (pronounced vi"lufī')
4	-l u f ī'	amplify, disqualify, exemplify, mollify, nullify, oversimplify, qualify, requalify, simplify.
3	-u f ī'	acidify, beautify, calcify, certify, clarify, classify, codify, crucify, decertify, declassify, deify, demystify, detoxify, dignify, diversify, edify, electrify, falsify, fortify, gentrify, glorify, gratify, horrify, identify, indemnify, intensify, justify, liquefy, magnify, misidentify, modify, mortify, mummify, mystify, notify, ossify, pacify, personify, petrify, purify, quantify, ramify, ratify, reclassify, rectify, reunify, signify, solidify, specify, stratify, stultify, terrify, testify, typify, unify, verify.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "f-i-i-l-v-y"
	-3 letters: fil, fly, ivy.
	-4 letters: if, li.
	Words containing the letters "f-i-i-l-v-y"
	+3 letters: fictively, frivolity, vilifying.
	+4 letters: fugitively.
	+5 letters: diffusively, factitively, forgivingly, reflexivity.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.