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Oct 14, 2011
This week's theme
Negative words

This week's words
disingenuous
picaresque
venal
miasma
vituperation

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

vituperation

PRONUNCIATION:
(vy-too-puh-RAY-shuhn, -tyoo-, vi-)

MEANING:
noun: Bitter and abusive language; condemnation.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin vituperare (to blame), from vitium (fault) + parare (to make or prepare). Earliest documented use: 1481.

USAGE:
"The judge I knew best was my grandfather. His unflappable nature helped him handle all the vituperation that comes to highly placed judges through the mails."
Amelia Newcomb; Judges: Not All Black Robes And Gavels; Christian Science Monitor (Boston, Massachusetts); Feb 7, 2002.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Before we set our hearts too much on anything, let us examine how happy are those who already possess it. -Francois, duc de La Rochefoucauld, moralist (1613-1680)

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