vulgar

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B2 — Upper-Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. adjective lacking refinement or cultivation or taste
  2. adjective of or associated with the great masses of people
  3. adjective being or characteristic of or appropriate to everyday language

Etymology

From Middle English vulgare, from Latin vulgāris, from volgus, vulgus (“mob; common folk”), from Proto-Indo-European *welH-. Compare Welsh gwala (“plenty, sufficiency”), Ancient Greek ἁλία (halía, “assembly”), εἰλέω (eiléō, “to compress”), Old Church Slavonic великъ (velikŭ, “great”).

In classic literature

Synonyms

coarse, common, rough-cut, uncouth

A single word — an entire dictionary opens.

Type a word, a sentence, a book title, or a link to an English article. WordNet and the Classics answer.

Try

A library of classics · a vault of words · instant etymology & meaning

Continue reading