vituperate

1. (transitive)Examples: "They loue not porke, nor ſwynes fleſh, but doth vituperate and abhore it, yet for all this, they will eate Adders, which is a kind of Serpentes, as well as any other Chriſtyan man dwelling in Roome, and other highe countreys, for Adders fleſhe there, is called fyſhe of the mountayne, this notwithſtanding Phiſicke doeth approbate adders fleſh good to be eaten, […]"; "[M]y beſt Lady, you knovv, and many better men then he have told you, that I am ſo far from vvronging you vvith a falſhood, that I have maintained your honor vvith the hazzard of my life againſt any that ever durſt vituperate you; […]"; "[T]he Rites of conſecrating, or crovvning Kings, and taking Oath of them to perform the Lavvs of their Government, and to maintain the Rites of Holy Church, […] is no lame and lazy Ceremony, made up onely of extern pomp, but of neceſſary and renovvned conſequence; vvhich thoſe that vituperate are Children, and thoſe that vvould overthrovv are Devils; becauſe therein accuſers of antient Piety and Prudence, and enemies to Mankind, vvho generally have the Prieſthood in higheſt honour."Synonyms: berate, scold, animadvert, admonish, bash, bawl out, blast, derogateformaltransitive

2. (transitive)Examples: "A bane to merit, he exerts himſelf to the deſtruction of every valuable virtue in literature, or in life: his pen is ne'er employed but in the abuſing and vituperating the innocent and meritorious; and like a voracious flie, he leaves and diſregards every accompliſhment, to fix upon the only ſore."; "[…] I learn that I have enemies, who, not content to hate, are sedulous to vituperate me."; "The yeomen separated the incensed priests, who continued to raise their voices, vituperating each other in bad Latin, which the Prior delivered the more fluently, and the Hermit with the greater vehemence."formaltransitive

3. (intransitive) To use abusive or harsh words.Examples: "Now the Brito-Celtic Church as Mr. [Henry Charles] Coote calls it, the Church which Augustine vituperated, is a fact, but I should certainly like to have some proof of the existence of the other, the "Early English Church" which Augustine ignored. And I should further like to know why he vituperated in the one case and ignored in the other."; "Agnolo [Pandolfini] has logic on his side in the very extreme to which he goes; but, like most of his successors in this dangerous line of remark, he loses his temper and begins to vituperate, though his rage is not against the weaker being whom he frankly despises [i.e., woman], but against the men who do not despise her."; "Governor "Ben" Tillman of South Carolina vituperated back with great fluency and the scene ended by a mutual promise to finish the discussion with more lethal weapons."Synonyms: railformalintransitive