vulgar
adjectivenouncommon in dialogue
- United Kingdom//ˈvʌl.ɡə//
- United States//ˈvʌl.ɡɚ//
Debased; uncouth; distasteful; obscene.
adjective
- 1
Debased; uncouth; distasteful; obscene.
vulgar language
vulgar words
a truly vulgar showing of affection
vulgar and highly distressing scenes
- 2
historicalHaving to do with ordinary, common people.
Near-synonyms: vulgate; vulgarized
It might be more useful to the English reader […] to write in our vulgar language.
The mechanical process of multiplying books had brought the New Testament in the vulgar tongue within the reach of every class.
Further, the same sacred name in other monuments precedes the vulgar name of King Takellothis, the sixth of the XXII. Dyn., as we have seen.
- 3
Common, usual; of the typical kind.
vulgar bush brown (Bicyclus vulgaris)
A vulture (V. aura), probably the Acabiry first described by Azara, is here called […] the hunter. It resembles in form the vulgar bird, but it flies high. The head is red, and the wings are black with silver lining, like the noble Bateleur of Africa.
- 4
Being a vulgar fraction.
A fraction is vulgar if it has one integer divided by another integer, as long as the integer that's doing the dividing isn't equal to zero.
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”).
noun
- 1
historicalA common, ordinary person.
Popular antiquarian writings […] frequently focused on the regional vulgars' superstitious beliefs regarding the dead and their ongoing presence—such as popular funeral rites or the vulgars' fear of church yards.
- 2
The common people.
- 3
The language of a people, especially the commoners.
Therefore you Clowne, abandon: which is in the vulgar, leaue the societie: which in the boorish, is companie, of this female: which in the common, is woman: which together, is, abandon the society of this Female, […]
Forms
- plural
- vulgars
- comparative
- more vulgar, vulgarer
- superlative
- most vulgar, vulgarest