Title | Vulgar |
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Text | Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary vul·gar \\ˈvəl-gər\\ adjective ETYMOLOGY Middle English, from Latin vulgaris of the mob, vulgar, from volgus, vulgus mob, common people
DATE 14th century
1.a. generally used, applied, or accepted b. understood in or having the ordinary sense they reject the vulgar conception of miracle — W. R. Inge 2. vernacular the vulgar name of a plant 3. a. of or relating to the common people : plebeian b. generally current : public the vulgar opinion of that time c. of the usual, typical, or ordinary kind 4. a. lacking in cultivation, perception, or taste : coarse b. morally crude, undeveloped, or unregenerate : gross c. ostentatious or excessive in expenditure or display : pretentious 5. a. offensive in language : earthy b. lewdly or profanely indecent Synonyms: see common , coarse • vul·gar·ly adverb English Etymology vulgar 1391, "common, ordinary," from L. vulgaris "of or pertaining to the common people, common, vulgar," from vulgus "the common people, multitude, crowd, throng," from PIE base *wel- "to crowd, throng" (cf.Skt. vargah "division, group," Gk. eilein "to press, throng," M.Bret. gwal'ch "abundance," Welsh gwala "sufficiency, enough"). Meaning "coarse, low, ill-bred" is first recorded 1643, probably from earlier use (with reference to people) with meaning "belonging to the ordinary class" (1530). Vulgarian "rich person of vulgar manners" is recorded from 1804. Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary-牛津双解-OALD7 vulgar vul·gar / 5vQl^E(r) / adjective1. not having or showing good taste; not polite, elegant or well behaved 庸俗的;粗俗的;粗野的;不雅的 SYN coarse , in bad taste :a vulgar man 粗俗的男人 vulgar decorations 俗里俗气的装饰 She found their laughter and noisy games coarse and rather vulgar. 她觉得他们的笑声和吵吵闹闹的游戏趣味低下,俗不可耐。 2. rude and likely to offend 粗野的;粗鲁的;下流的 SYN crude :vulgar jokes 低俗的笑话 • vul·gar·ly adv.: He eyed her vulgarly. 他色迷迷地瞅着她。 Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged vul·gar I. \ˈvəlgə(r)\ adjective (sometimes -er/-est) Etymology: Middle English, from Latin vulgaris, volgaris of the mob, of the common people, common, vulgar, from vulgus, volgus mob, common people + -aris -ar; akin to Welsh gwala sufficiency, enough, Breton awalc'h enough, Tocharian B walke long, Sanskrit varga group, body of men, and perhaps to Greek eilein to press, squeeze 1. a. : generally used, applied, or accepted : found in ordinary practice < the vulgar course of events > b. : usual or customary in sense or interpretation : having the common or recognized meaning : taken in the ordinary way < they reject the vulgar conception of miracle — W.R.Inge > 2. : of or relating to common speech : vernacular < it is quite possible for a language which is no longer the language of vulgar communication to remain the language of scholarship for generations and even for centuries — Norbert Wiener > < the vulgar languages of Europe > 3. a. : of or relating to the common people : belonging to the rank and file of a community or group or to an undistinguished or indistinguishable mass : plebeian < keep their knowledge to themselves, safe from the vulgar herd — R.A.Hall b.1911 > < vegetarianism is a diet for heroes and saints, not for vulgar persons — G.B.Shaw > b. : widely known : generally current : public < followed the vulgar opinion of the day > < must inevitably be … a history of vulgar errors — J.H.Sledd > c. : usual, typical, or ordinary in kind : of the common sort < paints the objects themselves in all their vulgar everydayness — Roger Fry > < conceal the details of a commonplace vulgar death — James Joyce > d. obsolete (1) : not developed or refined beyond the ordinary : having the qualities or understanding of common people (2) : generally comprehensible : intelligible to the average mind 4. a. : lacking in cultivation, perception, or taste : coarse , ill-bred , ill-mannered , rude < an essentially vulgar mind, incapable of any real finesse or delicacy — H.J.Laski > < thought the farm hands who ate so greedily were vulgar — Sherwood Anderson > < had quitted the ways of vulgar men, without light to guide him on a better way — Thomas Hardy > b. : falling short of an artificial gentility or veneer : regarded as common by overrefined, precious, or affected persons < she must neither move nor speak like other women, because it would be vulgar — George Savile > c. : morally crude, undeveloped, or unregenerate : self-centered , self-seeking , self-aggrandizing , gross < no vulgar ambition, no morbid lust for material gain at the expense of others, had led us to the field — Sir Winston Churchill > d. : ostentatious, elaborate, or excessive especially in expenditure or display : lacking simplicity, moderation, or propriety : pretentious , vain < saw so many vulgar abuses of money as I grew older that I developed a positive disdain for the ostentatious symbols of wealth — Elsa Maxwell > 5. a. : marked by coarseness of speech or expression : crude or offensive in language : earthy b. : lewd, obscene, or profane in expression or behavior : indecent , indelicate < names too vulgar to put into print — H.A.Chippendale > 6. : marked by lack of discrimination, coherence, or selection : shaped by no unifying viewpoint or conception : flashy, congested, or extravagant in execution or performance < the vulgar … concept of spectacle rather than selective art — Roger Burlingame > < a luridly spectacular, aggressively tawdry, affirmatively vulgar novelist of the fourth class — James Gray > 7. : dominated or prevailingly colored by the material concerns or business of life : not relieved by graces, manners, or arts < becoming by giant strides more urban, more commercial and more vulgar — Times Literary Supplement > Synonyms: see coarse , common II. noun (-s) Etymology: Middle English, from vulgar, adjective 1. obsolete : vernacular 2. : a vulgar or common person |
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