vile
pronunciation
How to pronounce vile in British English:
UK [vaɪl]
How to pronounce vile in American English:
US [vaɪl]
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- Adjective:
- morally reprehensible
- thoroughly unpleasant
- causing or able to cause nausea
Word Origin
- vile
- vile: [13] The ancestral meaning of vile is ‘of low status, quality, or price, cheap, common’; its use as a general epithet of ‘horribleness’ is a secondary development. It comes via Old French vil from Latin vīlis, a word of uncertain origin. The same source has given English revile [14] and vilify [15].=> revile, vilify
- vile (adj.)
- late 13c., "morally repugnant; morally flawed, corrupt, wicked; of no value; of inferior quality; disgusting, foul, ugly; degrading, humiliating; of low estate, without worldly honor or esteem," from Anglo-French ville, Old French vil "shameful, dishonorable; low-born; cheap; ugly, hideous," from Latin vilis "cheap, worthless, base, common," of uncertain origin, perhaps from PIE root *wes- (1) "to buy, sell" (see venal). Related: Vilely; vileness; vilety (early 13c.).
Antonym
Example
- 1. That 's not reckless or vile it 's decisive .
- 2. When taylor is sick he alternates detective stories with michael holroyd 's life of lytton strachey - " what a vile , cruel , self-centred man " .
- 3. All the men on the cushions are convinced that drones photograph their wives , a vile insult in conservative yemen .
- 4. Not bad for a mythical creature whose name , in chinese , sounds very much like an especially vile obscenity .
- 5. According to a new study in the latest edition of the journal evolution , one of humanity 's noblest virtues may ironically have its origins in one of our most vile impulses .