reviling

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re·vile

(rĭ-vīl′)

v. re·viled, re·vil·ing, re·viles

v.tr.

To assail with scornful or abusive language; vituperate. See Synonyms at scold.

v.intr.

To use scornful or abusive language.

[Middle English revilen, from Old French reviler : re-, re- + vil, vile; see vile.]

re·vile′ment n.

re·vil′er n.

re·vil′ing·ly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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reviling

noun

Harsh, often insulting language:

abuse, billingsgate, contumely, invective, obloquy, railing, revilement, scurrility, scurrilousness, vituperation.

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References in classic literature ?

Achilles then slays Thersites for abusing and reviling him for his supposed love for Penthesileia.

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Could she have told her husband already that she had overheard Laura reviling him, in my company, as a " spy?" My strong suspicion that she must have told him, my irresistible dread (all the more overpowering from its very vagueness) of the consequences which might follow, my fixed conviction, derived from various little self-betrayals which women notice in each other, that Madame Fosco, in spite of her well-assumed external civility, had not forgiven her niece for innocently standing between her and the legacy of ten thousand pounds--all rushed upon my mind together, all impelled me to speak in the vain hope of using my own influence and my own powers of persuasion for the atonement of Laura's offence.

"The English and the Germans (he indignantly declared) were always reviling the Italians for their inability to cultivate the higher kinds of music.

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I have been infamously treated by one woman; and my wounded self-esteem has meanly revenged itself by reviling the whole sex.

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Ephesians denounces "reviling"--that is, abusive speech.

Rules of engagement: What we say matters, and the louder the talk the closer it is to worthless

Unfortunately, on the streets, in official organisations or popular gatherings, one may hear people reviling others, calling them names, or scoffing at them.

The prohibition of abusive language, insults and curses

' The politics of Imran is nothing but lying and reviling. His politics pivots on accusations.