vile

CEFRB2

/vaɪ(ə)l/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

01
adjective
Very unpleasant, evil, or morally bad.
02
adjective
Extra detail
Causing physical or mental repulsion; horrid.

Examples

That was a vile thing to do.
Wisdom and goodness to the vile seem vile.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses: 4
Parts of speech: 1
Citations: 4
Synonyms: 5

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

That which is vile; vileness.
Morally low; base; despicable.

More examples

In context

I glimpsed a vile squid-like creature in the depths.
vile accusation
The medicine had a vile taste and smell.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The blank taste of the spoiled milk made him feel sick and gag.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Citations

The word in print, with each source given in full.

Turn now to the temperance revolution. In it we shall find a stronger bondage broken, a viler slavery manumitted, a greater tyrant deposed; in it, more of want supplied, more disease healed, more sorrow assuaged.
1842 February 22, Abraham Lincoln, “Address Before the Springfield Washingtonian Temperance Society”, in Arthur Brooks Lapsley, editor, The Papers and Writings of Abraham Lincoln
The parties stooped to vile and unbecoming meannesses; infinite briberies, forgeries, perjuries, and all manners of debauchings of the principles and manners of the electors were attempted.
1870, William Minto, “Daniel Defoe”, in Acme Library of Standard Biography
Winston Smith, his chin nuzzled into his breast in an effort to escape the vile wind, slipped quickly through the glass doors of Victory Mansions, though not quickly enough to prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering along with him.
1949 June 8, George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC, Part I, Chapter I
“I had seen those two work before—in the smoking-room the day prior to their attack on you, if I recollect it correctly, and so, knowing their methods, I am convinced that their enmity is a sufficient guarantee of the integrity of its object. Men such as they must cleave only to the vile, hating all that is noblest and best.”
1913 June–December, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Forging Bonds of Hate and ——?”, in The Return of Tarzan, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, […], published March 1915, →OCLC, pages 26–27

Keep vile

Looking a word up is the easy part. LexUp remembers which words you have met and brings them back at the point you were about to forget them.

Download on theApp Store Get it onGoogle Play

Origin

adjective

From Middle English vile, vyle, vyl, from Anglo-Norman ville, Old French vil, vile, from Latin vīlis.

Deep Dive

adjective

More examples

Related

Quick test

The blank— taste of the spoiled milk made him feel sick and gag.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

The blank taste of the spoiled milk made him feel sick and gag.