vulgar - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Middle English vulgare, from Latin vulgāris, from volgus, vulgus (“mob; common folk”), from Proto-Indo-European *wl̥k-. Compare Welsh gwala (“plenty, sufficiency”), Ancient Greek ἁλία (halía, “assembly”), εἰλέω (eiléō, “to compress”), Old Church Slavonic великъ (velikŭ, “great”).

vulgar (comparative more vulgar or vulgarer, superlative most vulgar or vulgarest)

  1. Debased; uncouth; distasteful; obscene.
    Coordinate terms: derogatory, disparaging, offensive
    vulgar language
    vulgar words
    a truly vulgar showing of affection
    vulgar and highly distressing scenes
    • 1551, James A.H. Murray, editor, A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles: Founded Mainly on the Materials Collected by the Philological Society.‎[1], volume 1, Oxford: Clarendon Press, published 1888, Part 1, page 217:
      Also the rule of false position, with dyuers examples not onely vulgar, but some appertaynyng to the rule of Algeber.
    • 2023 May 28, Robert Armstrong, “The world wobbles; the luxury industry strides on”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 21:
      Several years ago I interviewed the CEO of a car manufacturer whose products start in the six figures. He told me his customers could always afford to buy his cars, but in recessions they found it vulgar to do so.
  2. (historical or derogatory) Having to do with ordinary, common people.
    • 1661, John Fell, The Life of Dr. Hammond:
      It might be more useful to the English reader […] to write in our vulgar language.
    • 1834–1874, George Bancroft, History of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent, volume (please specify |volume=I to X), Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company [_et al._], →OCLC:
      The mechanical process of multiplying books had brought the New Testament in the vulgar tongue within the reach of every class.
    • 1860, G. Syffarth, “A Remarkable Seal in Dr. Abbott's Museum at New York”, in Transactions of the Academy of Science of St. Louis, page 265:
      Further, the same sacred name in other monuments precedes the vulgar name of King Takellothis, the sixth of the XXII. Dyn., as we have seen.
  3. (especially taxonomy) Common, usual; of the typical kind.
    vulgar bush brown (Bicyclus vulgaris)
    • 1869, Richard Francis Burton, The Highlands of the Brazil, page 85:
      A vulture (V. aura), probably the Acabiry first described by Azara, is here called […] the hunter. It resembles in form the vulgar bird, but it flies high. The head is red, and the wings are black with silver lining, like the noble Bateleur of Africa.
  4. (mathematics) Being a vulgar fraction.
    • 2022, Mary Jane Sterling, Algebra II All-in-One For Dummies, page 282:
      A fraction is vulgar if it has one integer divided by another integer, as long as the integer that's doing the dividing isn't equal to zero.

distasteful, uncouth, obscene

having to do with common people

vulgar (plural vulgars)

  1. (historical or derogatory) A common, ordinary person.
    • 2016, Evan Gottlieb, Juliet Shields, Representing Place in British Literature and Culture, 1660-1830:
      Popular antiquarian writings […] frequently focused on the regional vulgars' superstitious beliefs regarding the dead and their ongoing presence—such as popular funeral rites or the vulgars' fear of church yards.
  2. (collective) The common people.
  3. The vernacular tongue or common language of a country.
    • 1623, William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies; Published according to the True Originall Copies, London, act 5, scene 1, page 204, Internet Shakespeare Editions:
      Therefore you Clowne, abandon: which is in the vulgar, leaue the societie: which in the boorish, is companie, of this female: which in the common, is woman: which together, is, abandon the society of this Female, […]

Borrowed from Latin vulgāris.

vulgar m or f (masculine and feminine plural vulgars)

  1. vulgar

From Latin vulgāris.

vulgar m or f (plural vulgares)

  1. common to the people, vulgar
  2. ordinary, undistinguished
    Synonym: prosaico
  3. popular, commonly understood, as opposed to scientific or technical
    Synonyms: común, popular
    Antonyms: científico, técnico
  4. simple, unintelligent

vulgar m (plural vulgares)

  1. vulgar (the vernacular tongue or common language of a country)
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vulgar m (feminine singular vulgara, masculine plural vulgars, feminine plural vulgaras)

  1. vulgar, common to the people
  2. ordinary, undistinguished
  3. popular

Borrowed from Latin vulgāris.

vulgar m or f (plural vulgares)

  1. common to the people, vulgar
  2. ordinary, undistinguished
    Synonym: prosaico
  3. popular, commonly understood, as opposed to scientific or technical
    Synonyms: comum, popular
    Antonyms: científico, técnico
  4. simple, unintelligent

Borrowed from French vulgaire, Latin vulgaris.

vulgar m or n (feminine singular vulgară, masculine plural vulgari, feminine and neuter plural vulgare)

  1. vulgar
    Synonyms: grosolan, ordinar, comun

From Latin vulgāris.

vulgar m or f (masculine and feminine plural vulgares)

  1. vulgar