revile

English

Etymology

From Middle English revilen, from re + Old French aviler (“to make vile or cheap, disprize, disesteem”), from a- (“to”) + vil (“vile, cheap”); see vile.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɹəˈvaɪl/
• Rhymes: -aɪl

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

Verb

revile (third-person singular simple present reviles, present participle reviling, simple past and past participle reviled)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To attack (someone) with abusive language.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Peter 2:23:

     who, when he was reviled, reviled not again

   • c. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv]:

     And did not she herself revile me there?

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:defame

Translations

to attack with abusive language

• Bulgarian: ругая (bg) (rugaja), хокам (bg) (hokam)
• Catalan: insultar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 斥責／斥责 (zh) (chìzé), 辱罵／辱骂 (zh) (rǔmà), 謾罵／谩骂 (zh) (mànmà)

• Dutch: uitschelden (nl)
• French: insulter (fr)
• Galician: insultar (gl)
• German: schmähen (de), beschimpfen (de), verunglimpfen (de), stänkern gegen
• Gothic: 𐌹𐌳𐍅𐌴𐌹𐍄𐌾𐌰𐌽 (idweitjan)
• Greek:

  Ancient: λοιδορέω (loidoréō), βλασφημέω (blasphēméō), κακορροθέω (kakorrhothéō)

• Hungarian: ócsárol (hu), szidalmaz (hu), becsmérel (hu), gyaláz (hu), sérteget (hu), pocskondiáz (hu)
• Ido: insultar (io)
• Irish: imdhearg
• Italian: insultare (it), vituperare (it)
• Maori: whakarihariha
• Polish: piętnować (pl) impf, napiętnować pf, lżyć (pl) impf, zelżyć (pl) pf
• Portuguese: insultar (pt)
• Russian: поноси́ть (ru) impf (ponosítʹ) (not to confuse with a homonymous pf. verb)
• Sanskrit: पीयति (pīyati)
• Spanish: insultar (es), putear (es) (Am.)
• Swedish: smäda (sv), skymfa (sv), håna (sv), åkväda
• White Hmong: cem

Noun

revile (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) reproach; reviling
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     The gracious Judge, without revile, replied.

Translations

reproach

• Bulgarian: хокане (bg) n (hokane)
• Spanish: reprochar (es)

Further reading

• “revile”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “revile”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• eviler, levier, liever, relive, veiler