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Mar 4, 2014
This week's theme
Verbs

This week's words
gallivant
vituperate
scrutate
distend
manducate

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

vituperate

PRONUNCIATION:
(vy-TOO-puh-rayt, -TYOO-, vi-)

MEANING:
verb tr., intr.: To use harsh or abusive language.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin vituperare (to blame), from vitium (fault) + parare (to make or prepare). Earliest documented use: 1542.

USAGE:
"In debate, Thaddeus Stevens vituperates with relish -- You fatuous nincompoop, you unnatural noise! -- at foes of the 13th amendment."
Roy Blount; Mr. Lincoln Goes to Hollywood; Smithsonian (Washington, DC); Nov 2012.

See more usage examples of vituperate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest. -Elie Wiesel, writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1928)

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