YOUR VOCABULARY, ONE WORD AT A TIME
Vituperative
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Meaning in plain English
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Pronunciation
Vituperative/vɪˈtjuːpərətɪv/
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Intense anger
Bitter, abusive criticism
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Examples in context
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- The debate turned vituperative as the candidates hurled personal insults.
- She launched into a vituperative rant against her former employer.
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The debate turned ________ as the candidates hurled personal insults.
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Vituperative — Bitter and abusive; full of harsh and angry criticism.
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Bitter and abusive; full of harsh and angry criticism.
Compare: The debate turned vituperative as the candidates hurled personal insults.
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Vituperative versus critical
Vituperative language contains harsh verbal abuse. Critical writing can point out errors without attacking a person. The distinction is useful when discussing reviews, comments or debates: focus on whether the language becomes abusive, not merely whether it is negative.
In context: The discussion became vituperative when people stopped addressing the evidence and began trading insults.
Try it: A review identifies three factual errors in a report. Is that automatically vituperative?
Check the explanation
No. Specific criticism can be measured and helpful. Vituperative is appropriate when the criticism becomes verbally abusive.
Dictionary reference: Merriam-Webster: Vituperative.
Word origin
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