vile

From Middle English vile, vyle, vyl, from Anglo-Norman ville, Old French vil, vile, from Latin vīlis.

• IPA^(key): /vaɪ(ə)l/

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• Rhymes: -aɪl
• Homophone: vial

vile (comparative viler or more vile, superlative vilest or most vile)

1. Morally low; base; despicable.

   vile accusation

   vile man

   • 1842 February 22, Abraham Lincoln, “Address Before the Springfield Washingtonian Temperance Society”, in Arthur Brooks Lapsley, editor, The Papers and Writings of Abraham Lincoln‎^[1]:

     Turn now to the temperance revolution. In it we shall find a stronger bondage broken, a viler slavery manumitted, a greater tyrant deposed; in it, more of want supplied, more disease healed, more sorrow assuaged.

   • 1870, William Minto, “Daniel Defoe”, in Acme Library of Standard Biography:

     The parties stooped to vile and unbecoming meannesses; infinite briberies, forgeries, perjuries, and all manners of debauchings of the principles and manners of the electors were attempted.

   • 2020 January 1, “Cultivating Myself Well and Helping People to Understand the Truth about Falun Dafa”, in Minghui‎^[2]:

     People crave human decency, warmth, and sincerity even in the vilest of circumstances…

2. Causing physical or mental repulsion; horrid.

   I glimpsed a vile squid-like creature in the depths.

   vile taste

   vile smell

   vile smile

   vile substance

   vile weather

vile (uncountable)

1. That which is vile; vileness.
   • 1913 June–December, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Forging Bonds of Hate and ——?”, in The Return of Tarzan, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, […], published March 1915, →OCLC, pages 26–27:

     “I had seen those two work before—in the smoking-room the day prior to their attack on you, if I recollect it correctly, and so, knowing their methods, I am convinced that their enmity is a sufficient guarantee of the integrity of its object. Men such as they must cleave only to the vile, hating all that is noblest and best.”

• (morally low): base, despicable, mean, ignoble, inappropriate

• vilify

• Levi, Viel, evil, live, veil, vlei

A formation from vjel (“to pluck, harvest”).

vile f (plural vile, definite vilja, definite plural vilet)

1. bunch of grapes

• vjel
• vjell

• IPA^(key): [ˈvɪlɛ]

vile f

1. dative/locative singular of vila

From vilisema +‎ -e.

vile (genitive vile, partitive vilet)

1. whistle

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vile

1. feminine singular of vil

From Latin vīlis (“cheap”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈvi.le/
• Rhymes: -ile
• Hyphenation: vì‧le

vile m or f (plural vili)

1. cowardly, dastardly

   Synonyms: codardo, vigliacco

2. base, miserable, mean

   Synonym: miserabile

3. cheap, worthless, base

   Synonym: privo di valore

vile m or f by sense (plural vili)

1. coward

   Synonyms: fifone, codardo

• avvilire
• svilire

• vile in Collins Italian-English Dictionary
• vile in Aldo Gabrielli, Grandi Dizionario Italiano (Hoepli)
• vile in garzantilinguistica.it – Garzanti Linguistica, De Agostini Scuola Spa
• vile in Dizionario Italiano Olivetti, Olivetti Media Communication
• vile in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

• Levi, levi, live, veli

vīle

1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of vīlis

• ville

From Latin vīlla.

• IPA^(key): /ˈvi.lə/

vile oblique singular, f (oblique plural viles, nominative singular vile, nominative plural viles)

1. town; city
   • 12th or 13th Century, author unknown, La Damme qui fist trois Tours:

     Ele est la fors en cele vile

     She is over there, in the city.

• French: ville

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *vidla (Russian ви́лы (víly), Czech vidle).

• IPA^(key): /ʋîle/
• Hyphenation: vi‧le

vȉle f (Cyrillic spelling ви̏ле)

1. (plural only) pitchfork

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

vile (Cyrillic spelling виле)

1. feminine plural active past participle of viti

• “vile”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2025

From Proto-Slavic *vidla.

• IPA^(key): /ʋìːlɛ/

víle f pl

1. pitchfork

• “vile”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU (in Slovene), 2014–2025

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vile

1. vi class_(VIII) inflected form and adverbial form of -le

vile

1. plural of vila