• vilify •
Printable Version Pronunciation: vi-lê-fai • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Verb, transitive
Meaning: To defame or malign, to slander or otherwise say bad things about someone.
Notes: Nothing drives me farther up the wall than the word "bad-mouth". This compound verb suggests bad breath more strongly than vilification or defamation. "Vilify" is a good word to replace this grating piece of slang; let's do it. The noun from the verb is "vilification."
In Play: Notice that this word is even shorter than "bad-mouth," making it a stronger candidate for expressing that sentiment, "Why are you vilifying me? I told you that the dog took the keys and locked himself in the car." "Slander" implies that the vilification is false but today's word takes no stand as to whether the claim is true or false: "I see nothing wrong in vilifying that vile heathen Martha Sviniard in any context."
Word History: This is a verb derived from Latin vilis "cheap, common, worthless" (from which "vile" and "revile" also originate). It goes back to some Proto-Indo-European root *wes- "to buy." (The asterisk indicates that the word is reconstructed from evidence in later languages and that we have no actual record of it.) With the suffix –no, it produced Latin venum "sale," the origin of English "venal." With the suffix –r, it went on to give us Persian bazaar "market," which we now enjoy as much as the Persians.
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