vile

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

• IPA^(key): /vaɪ(ə)l/

• Audio (US):

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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.

   The medicine had a vile taste and smell.

   We can't go out in this vile weather.

   • 1949 June 8, George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four‎^[3], London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC, Part I, Chapter I:

     Winston Smith, his chin nuzzled into his breast in an effort to escape the vile wind, slipped quickly through the glass doors of Victory Mansions, though not quickly enough to prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering along with him.

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

   Synonyms: vesh, bistak, cik

• vjel
• vjell

• IPA^(key): [ˈvɪlɛ]

vile f

1. dative/locative singular of vila

From vilisema +‎ -e.

vile (genitive vile, partitive vilet)

1. whistle

Declension of vile (ÕS type 16/pere, no gradation)
		singular	plural
nominative		vile	viled
accusative	nom.
	gen.	vile
genitive			vilede
partitive		vilet	vilesid
illative		ville vilesse	viledesse
inessive		viles	viledes
elative		vilest	viledest
allative		vilele	viledele
adessive		vilel	viledel
ablative		vilelt	viledelt
translative		vileks	viledeks
terminative		vileni	viledeni
essive		vilena	viledena
abessive		vileta	viledeta
comitative		vilega	viledega

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

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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 by sense (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 pl (Cyrillic spelling ви̏ле)

1. 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), 2006–2026

From Proto-Slavic *vidla. First attested in the 16th century.

• IPA^(key): /ʋìːlɛ/

víle f pl

1. pitchfork

The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.

Feminine, a-stem
nominative	víle
genitive	víl
	plural
nominative (imenovȃlnik)	víle
genitive (rodȋlnik)	víl
dative (dajȃlnik)	vílam
accusative (tožȋlnik)	víle
locative (mẹ̑stnik)	vílah
instrumental (orọ̑dnik)	vílami

• “vile”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU (in Slovene), 2014–2026

• Audio (Kenya):

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vile

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

vile

1. daughter

• Meng, Chenxi (2018), A Grammar of Tulil (PhD thesis)‎^[4], page 8

vile

1. plural of vila