Adjacent Words

Vulgar definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

VULGAR , a.
1. Pertaining to the common unlettered people; as vulgar life.
2. Used or practiced by common people; as vulgar sports.
3. Vernacular; national.
It might be more useful to the English reader, to write in our vulgar language.
4. Common; used by all classes of people; as the vulgar version of the scriptures.
5. Public; as vulgar report.
6. Mean; rustic; rude; low; unrefined; as vulgar ninds; vulgar manners.
7. Consisting of common persons.
In reading an account of a battle, we follow the hero with our whole attention, but seldom reflect on the vulgar heaps of slaughter.
Vulgar fractions, in arithmetic, fractions expressed by a numerator and denominator; thus 2/5.
VULGAR, n. The common people. [It has no plural termination, but has often a plural verb.]
The vulgar imagine the pretender to have been a child imposed on the nation.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: lacking refinement or cultivation or taste; "he had coarse manners but a first-rate mind"; "behavior that branded him as common"; "an untutored and uncouth human being"; "an uncouth soldier--a real tough guy"; "appealing to the vulgar taste for violence"; "the vulgar display of the newly rich" [syn: coarse, common, rough-cut, uncouth, vulgar]
2: of or associated with the great masses of people; "the common people in those days suffered greatly"; "behavior that branded him as common"; "his square plebeian nose"; "a vulgar and objectionable person"; "the unwashed masses" [syn: common, plebeian, vulgar, unwashed]
3: being or characteristic of or appropriate to everyday language; "common parlance"; "a vernacular term"; "vernacular speakers"; "the vulgar tongue of the masses"; "the technical and vulgar names for an animal species" [syn: common, vernacular, vulgar]
4: conspicuously and tastelessly indecent; "coarse language"; "a crude joke"; "crude behavior"; "an earthy sense of humor"; "a revoltingly gross expletive"; "a vulgar gesture"; "full of language so vulgar it should have been edited" [syn: crude, earthy, gross, vulgar]

Merriam Webster's

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 • vulgarly adverb

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 a of or characteristic of the common people, plebeian. b coarse in manners; low (vulgar expressions; vulgar tastes). 2 in common use; generally prevalent (vulgar errors). Phrases and idioms: vulgar fraction a fraction expressed by numerator and denominator, not decimally. vulgar Latin informal Latin of classical times. the vulgar tongue the national or vernacular language, esp. formerly as opposed to Latin. Derivatives: vulgarly adv. Etymology: ME f. L vulgaris f. vulgus common people

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Vulgar Vul"gar, a. [L. vulgaris, from vulgus the multitude, the common people; of uncertain origin: cf. F. vulgaire. Cf. Divulge.] 1. Of or pertaining to the mass, or multitude, of people; common; general; ordinary; public; hence, in general use; vernacular. ``As common as any the most vulgar thing to sense. '' -- Shak. Things vulgar, and well-weighed, scarce worth the praise. --Milton. It might be more useful to the English reader . . . to write in our vulgar language. --Bp. Fell. The mechanical process of multiplying books had brought the New Testament in the vulgar tongue within the reach of every class. --Bancroft. 2. Belonging or relating to the common people, as distinguished from the cultivated or educated; pertaining to common life; plebeian; not select or distinguished; hence, sometimes, of little or no value. ``Like the vulgar sort of market men.'' --Shak. Men who have passed all their time in low and vulgar life. --Addison. In reading an account of a battle, we follow the hero with our whole attention, but seldom reflect on the vulgar heaps of slaughter. --Rambler. 3. Hence, lacking cultivation or refinement; rustic; boorish; also, offensive to good taste or refined feelings; low; coarse; mean; base; as, vulgar men, minds, language, or manners. Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. --Shak. Vulgar fraction. (Arith.) See under Fraction.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Vulgar Vul"gar, n. [Cf. F. vulgaire.] 1. One of the common people; a vulgar person. [Obs.] These vile vulgars are extremely proud. --Chapman. 2. The vernacular, or common language. [Obs.]

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. If you describe something as vulgar, you think it is in bad taste or of poor artistic quality. The film is tasteless, vulgar and even badly shot. ADJ [disapproval] • vulgarity I hate the vulgarity of this room. 2. If you describe pictures, gestures, or remarks as vulgar, you dislike them because they refer to sex or parts of the body in a rude way that you find unpleasant. The women laughed coarsely at some vulgar jokes... The lyrics were vulgar. ADJ [disapproval] • vulgarity There's a good deal of vulgarity. 3. If you describe a person or their behaviour as vulgar, you mean that they lack taste or behave rudely. He was a vulgar old man, but he never swore in front of a woman... = crude ADJ [disapproval] • vulgarity It's his vulgarity that I can't take.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Plebeian, common, ignoble, mean, low-born, base-born. 2. Homespun, rustic, boorish, unrefined, common, uncultivated, coarse. 3. General, common, ordinary, popular. 4. Low, mean, base, gross, coarse, vile, broad, loose. 5. Unauthorized, inelegant, cant. 6. (Rare.) Vernacular, native, in general use.

Moby Thesaurus

Doric, average, barbarian, barbaric, barbarous, barnyard, base, baseborn, below the salt, blatant, blue, boorish, brazen, brazenfaced, broad, cacophonous, caddish, chintzy, clumsy, coarse, cockney, colloquial, colorful, common, commonplace, conversational, crass, crude, demeaning, dirty, disadvantaged, doggerel, dysphemistic, earthy, everyday, extravagant, filthy, flagrant, flaring, flash, flaunting, frank, garish, gauche, gaudy, general, glaring, gorgeous, graceless, gross, gutter, harsh, homely, homespun, household, humble, idiomatic, ignoble, ill-bred, improper, impure, in bad taste, in the shade, inappropriate, inconcinnate, inconcinnous, inconsiderate, incorrect, indecent, indecorous, indelicate, inelegant, infelicitous, inferior, infra dig, insensitive, junior, lascivious, less, lesser, lewd, licentious, loathsome, loud, loutish, louty, low, low-class, lowborn, lowbred, lower, lowly, lurid, lustful, mean, meretricious, minor, modest, nasty, naughty, nonclerical, obscene, obtrusive, off color, offensive, ordinary, ostentatious, outlandish, plain, plebeian, popular, pornographic, profane, rank, raunchy, raw, repulsive, revolting, ribald, risque, rough, rude, salacious, scatological, screaming, second rank, second string, secondary, sensational, servile, shabby-genteel, shameless, smutty, spectacular, spoken, sub, subaltern, subject, subordinate, subservient, tactless, tasteless, tawdry, third rank, third string, third-estate, unbecoming, unbeseeming, uncourtly, uncouth, uncultivated, uncultured, underprivileged, undignified, uneuphonious, unfelicitous, unfeminine, unfitting, ungenteel, ungentle, ungentlemanly, ungraceful, unladylike, unpolished, unrefined, unseemly, unsolicitous, unsuitable, untasteful, vernacular, vile, vulgate, wild