Synonyms for vilify
ˈvɪl əˌfaɪvil·i·fy

WiktionaryRate these synonyms:5.0 / 1 vote

1. vilifyverb

   To say defamatory things about someone or something.

   Synonyms:
   slander, assail, denounce, libel, criticize, decry

2. vilifyverb

   To belittle through speech; to put down.

   Synonyms:
   decry, assail, criticize, slander, denounce, libel

3. vilifyverb

   Synonyms:
   berate

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. vilify

   Abuse covers all unreasonable or improper use or treatment by word or act. A tenant does not abuse rented property by "reasonable wear," though that may damage the property and injure its sale; he may abuse it by needless defacement or neglect. It is possible to abuse a man without harming him, as when the criminal vituperates the judge; or to harm a man without abusing him, as when the witness tells the truth about the criminal. Defame, malign, rail at, revile, slander, vilify, and vituperate are used always in a bad sense. One may be justly reproached. To impose on or to victimize one is to injure him by abusing his confidence. To persecute one is to ill-treat him for opinion's sake, commonly for religious belief; to oppress is generally for political or pecuniary motives. "Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy," Deut. xxiv, 14. Misemploy, misuse, and pervert are commonly applied to objects rather than to persons. A dissolute youth misemploys his time, misuses his money and opportunities, harms his associates, perverts his talents, wrongs his parents, ruins himself, abuses every good gift of God.

   Synonyms:
   abuse, aggrieve, damage, defame, defile, disparage, harm, ill-treat, ill-use, impose on, impose upon, injure, malign, maltreat, misemploy, misuse, molest, oppress, persecute, pervert, prostitute, rail at, ravish, reproach, revile, ruin, slander, victimize, violate, vituperate, wrong

   Antonyms:
   applaud, benefit, care for, cherish, conserve, consider, eulogize, extol, favor, laud, panegyrize, praise, protect, regard, respect, shield, sustain, tend, uphold, vindicate

Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. vilify

   Synonyms:
   debase, degrade, spoil, deteriorate, mar, defame, traduce, asperse, stigmatize, slander, upbraid, abuse, decry, cheapen

   Antonyms:
   purify, refine, exalt, raise, improve, enhance, eulogize, praise, laud, panegyrize, commend

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. vilify, revile, vituperate, railverb

   spread negative information about

   "The Nazi propaganda vilified the Jews"

   Synonyms:
   fulminate, rail, train, vituperate, revile, rail off, inveigh, rail in

Matched Categories

1. • Abuse

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:3.0 / 1 vote

1. vilifyverb

   Synonyms:
   defame, traduce, revile, asperse, calumniate, scandalize, malign, reproach, abuse, blacken, blemish, slur, vituperate, backbite, lampoon, disparage, upbraid, berate, run down, speak ill of, accuse falsely, damn with faint praise

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated WordsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. vilifyverb

   Synonyms:
   malign, revile, vituperate, traduce, calumniate

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:0.0 / 0 votes

1. List of paraphrases for "vilify":

   demonize, denigrate, defame

How to pronounce vilify?

How to say vilify in sign language?

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

1. [["1587","2"],["1644","1"],["1661","1"],["1669","1"],["1672","1"],["1673","1"],["1674","1"],["1677","1"],["1683","2"],["1684","1"],["1686","1"],["1688","2"],["1689","1"],["1692","1"],["1694","2"],["1698","1"],["1699","4"],["1700","2"],["1701","3"],["1702","6"],["1703","3"],["1704","2"],["1705","8"],["1706","11"],["1707","8"],["1708","7"],["1709","6"],["1710","8"],["1711","6"],["1712","6"],["1713","13"],["1714","7"],["1715","9"],["1716","5"],["1717","6"],["1718","11"],["1719","2"],["1720","24"],["1721","13"],["1722","10"],["1723","8"],["1724","8"],["1725","9"],["1726","10"],["1727","15"],["1728","8"],["1729","12"],["1730","16"],["1731","28"],["1732","14"],["1733","16"],["1734","12"],["1735","12"],["1736","21"],["1737","16"],["1738","11"],["1739","16"],["1740","13"],["1741","12"],["1742","12"],["1743","20"],["1744","25"],["1745","13"],["1746","12"],["1747","25"],["1748","15"],["1749","14"],["1750","24"],["1751","38"],["1752","27"],["1753","20"],["1754","16"],["1755","20"],["1756","12"],["1757","8"],["1758","14"],["1759","20"],["1760","18"],["1761","17"],["1762","19"],["1763","20"],["1764","17"],["1765","19"],["1766","25"],["1767","5"],["1768","18"],["1769","18"],["1770","19"],["1771","16"],["1772","11"],["1773","15"],["1774","9"],["1775","30"],["1776","20"],["1777","16"],["1778","18"],["1779","20"],["1780","25"],["1781","15"],["1782","28"],["1783","19"],["1784","18"],["1785","28"],["1786","12"],["1787","48"],["1788","45"],["1789","38"],["1790","31"],["1791","55"],["1792","74"],["1793","62"],["1794","31"],["1795","53"],["1796","40"],["1797","45"],["1798","34"],["1799","72"],["1800","60"],["1801","165"],["1802","107"],["1803","85"],["1804","123"],["1805","116"],["1806","163"],["1807","120"],["1808","140"],["1809","136"],["1810","228"],["1811","210"],["1812","180"],["1813","251"],["1814","127"],["1815","173"],["1816","185"],["1817","157"],["1818","258"],["1819","208"],["1820","223"],["1821","212"],["1822","277"],["1823","259"],["1824","337"],["1825","358"],["1826","278"],["1827","199"],["1828","223"],["1829","199"],["1830","616"],["1831","189"],["1832","212"],["1833","184"],["1834","211"],["1835","288"],["1836","240"],["1837","279"],["1838","213"],["1839","272"],["1840","237"],["1841","250"],["1842","231"],["1843","213"],["1844","267"],["1845","251"],["1846","260"],["1847","214"],["1848","285"],["1849","267"],["1850","267"],["1851","229"],["1852","213"],["1853","285"],["1854","327"],["1855","215"],["1856","270"],["1857","251"],["1858","205"],["1859","328"],["1860","226"],["1861","148"],["1862","121"],["1863","156"],["1864","210"],["1865","175"],["1866","173"],["1867","179"],["1868","176"],["1869","146"],["1870","276"],["1871","206"],["1872","155"],["1873","125"],["1874","177"],["1875","168"],["1876","228"],["1877","226"],["1878","154"],["1879","142"],["1880","188"],["1881","228"],["1882","232"],["1883","266"],["1884","241"],["1885","200"],["1886","160"],["1887","247"],["1888","175"],["1889","156"],["1890","174"],["1891","181"],["1892","187"],["1893","145"],["1894","196"],["1895","217"],["1896","297"],["1897","230"],["1898","244"],["1899","297"],["1900","315"],["1901","327"],["1902","339"],["1903","281"],["1904","324"],["1905","209"],["1906","259"],["1907","237"],["1908","280"],["1909","174"],["1910","210"],["1911","221"],["1912","191"],["1913","196"],["1914","214"],["1915","141"],["1916","168"],["1917","153"],["1918","97"],["1919","150"],["1920","136"],["1921","118"],["1922","153"],["1923","147"],["1924","159"],["1925","186"],["1926","149"],["1927","215"],["1928","184"],["1929","161"],["1930","220"],["1931","179"],["1932","129"],["1933","123"],["1934","202"],["1935","157"],["1936","194"],["1937","179"],["1938","217"],["1939","195"],["1940","149"],["1941","143"],["1942","105"],["1943","135"],["1944","141"],["1945","132"],["1946","211"],["1947","223"],["1948","228"],["1949","216"],["1950","239"],["1951","211"],["1952","233"],["1953","203"],["1954","201"],["1955","260"],["1956","230"],["1957","238"],["1958","280"],["1959","250"],["1960","353"],["1961","343"],["1962","389"],["1963","456"],["1964","431"],["1965","479"],["1966","561"],["1967","617"],["1968","581"],["1969","582"],["1970","713"],["1971","621"],["1972","637"],["1973","551"],["1974","526"],["1975","486"],["1976","446"],["1977","465"],["1978","526"],["1979","515"],["1980","508"],["1981","530"],["1982","534"],["1983","481"],["1984","554"],["1985","596"],["1986","608"],["1987","610"],["1988","637"],["1989","665"],["1990","703"],["1991","736"],["1992","924"],["1993","854"],["1994","938"],["1995","1026"],["1996","1167"],["1997","1208"],["1998","1381"],["1999","1415"],["2000","1606"],["2001","1650"],["2002","1670"],["2003","1899"],["2004","2405"],["2005","2153"],["2006","2552"],["2007","2697"],["2008","3809"]]

Words popularity by usage frequency

How to use vilify in a sentence?

1. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez:

   You know this is part of a pattern that the right and the far-right and, frankly, the President is consistent with, he doesn't have another woman, Hillary Clinton or whoever else, to vilify anymore so they need to find another woman to kind of prop up and become a lightning rod.

2. Rayvon Fouché:

   At the core, sport is a human endeavor, and we like to cheer for our fans. We like to vilify the umpires, it’s a theater of sport and part of that would be lost if we moved to robotic officiating.

3. Jeffrey Salkin:

   He has taken every opportunity to vilify women, Muslims, Mexicans, immigrants and the disabled.

4. Michael McCaul:

   We should be careful not to vilify ‘encryption’ itself, which is essential for privacy, data security, and global commerce, but I have personally been briefed on cases where terrorists communicated in darkness and where we couldn’t shine a light, even with a lawful warrant.

5. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull:

   This appears to have been an act of politically motivated violence, so, at this stage, it appears to have been an act of terrorism, we must not vilify or blame the entire Muslim community for the actions of what is, in truth, a very, very small percentage of violent extremist individuals.