Synonyms for vituperative
- adjective
All synonyms
Adjective
1. Marked by harsh verbal abuse
vitriolic, invective, abusive, scurrilous, contemptuous, slanderous, censorious, condemnatory, insulting, defamatory, ranting, critical, foul, reproachful, opprobrious, damnatory, calumnious, contumelious formal dated
Other
truculent, scathing, vituperous rare
Definitions
- adj. 1
Marked by harsh abuse; abusive, often with ranting or railing.
Floris gave the play a vituperative review laced with frequent personal insults.
Example sentences
- abusive Sami was abusive to Layla verbally and physically.
- invective Her so-called essay was actually an invective against the entire academy.
- scathing Tom wrote a scathing review of Mary's book.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| vituperative | steady | |
| abusive | rising | |
| vitriolic | rising | |
| invective | steady | |
| scurrilous | steady | |
| scathing | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 4 letters
- foul1
- 7 letters
- abusive3, ranting2
- 8 letters
- critical3, scathing2
- 9 letters
- insulting3, vitriolic4, invective3, truculent3, damnatory
- 10 letters
- defamatory5, slanderous3, scurrilous3, censorious, calumnious, vituperous
- 11 letters
- reproachful, opprobrious
- 12 letters
- contemptuous4, condemnatory, contumelious
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (abusive3 = 3 syllables).