vilipend

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English

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Etymology

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From Middle English vilipenden (to treat (something) as contemptible) [and other forms],[1] from Old French vilipender (modern French vilipender (to condemn, despise, revile, scorn, vilipend, vilify)), or its etymon Latin vilipendō, from vīlis (cheap, inexpensive; base, mean, vile, worthless) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wes- (to buy, sell)) + pendō (to hang, suspend; to weigh, weigh out; (figuratively) to consider, ponder) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend- (to stretch)). The English word is cognate with Italian vilipendere (to despise, scorn, vilipend), Portuguese vilipendiar (to vilify), Spanish vilipendiar (to vilify).[2]

Pronunciation

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Verb

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vilipend (third-person singular simple present vilipends, present participle vilipending, simple past and past participle vilipended)

  1. (transitive, dated, formal) To treat (something) as inconsequential or worthless; to despise, to look down on.
    Synonyms: belittle, contemn, misprize, slight
  2. (transitive, dated, formal) To express a disparaging opinion of; to slander or vilify.
    Synonyms: abuse, disparage, derogate; see also Thesaurus:defame
    • 1853 July 10, “Evil Birds”, in The Colonist[1], New Zealand: Nelson, page 4:
      But we desire, most unhesitatingly to condemn and vilipend a system of continual abuse, intended to fall upon the provincial Government, but in reality reaching and injuring the public at large.
    • 1917, O. W. Firkins, The Nation[2], The Nation Company, page 176:
      But, for all their feint of nonchalance, these young persons have no other task in life but to explain and extol their own conduct and to vilipend their critics and opponents.

Conjugation

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Derived terms

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ vī̆lipenden, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ Compare vilipend, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1917.