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Vilify: meaning, example and synonyms

Vilifyv. To speak or write about someone in an abusively disparaging way.

Flashcard for Vilify (verb): to speak or write about someone in an abusively disparaging way. Example: Rival pamphleteers vilified the reformer as a reckless schemer, though the town records show that her water plan saved hundreds from disease. Synonyms: defame, malign, denigrate, slander. Antonyms: praise, extol, commend, glorify. Memory tip: Vilify = make someone seem VILE. Illustration: a crowd of townspeople in nineteenth-century coats jeering and pointing at a calm woman in a long dress who stands holding blank rolled plans near a village well.

Example

Rival pamphleteers vilified the reformer as a reckless schemer, though the town records show that her water plan saved hundreds from disease.

Part of speech
verb
Synonyms
defame, malign, denigrate, slander
Antonyms
praise, extol, commend, glorify
Memory tip
Vilify = make someone seem VILE.

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Check yourself: Vilify in context

Pick the word that best completes each text.

Question 1

During the bitter election, partisan newspapers ______ the candidate as a traitor and a thief, though no evidence of either charge ever surfaced.

Question 2

It is easy to ______ the early factory owners as heartless villains, the historian cautions, but some of them funded the first free schools for workers' children.

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