Definition

1. Noun:
   • The act of making abusive or slanderous statements about someone: "Vilification" refers to the action of speaking or writing about someone in a way that is extremely critical, harsh, and damaging to their reputation.
   • A defamatory utterance or campaign: It can also denote the specific abusive or malicious statements themselves, intended to harm someone's character.

Examples of Usage

• Noun:
  • The politician faced relentless vilification in the press during the campaign.
  • Her speech was not criticism; it crossed the line into outright vilification.
  • The lawsuit was filed for the vilification of the company's CEO.

Advanced Usage

• "to be subjected to vilification": to be the target of a sustained, abusive attack on one's character.
  • Whistleblowers are often subjected to public vilification.
• "campaign of vilification": an organized effort to damage someone's reputation through slanderous statements.
  • The activist was the target of a vicious campaign of vilification.

Variants and Related Words

• Vilify (verb): to speak or write about in an abusively disparaging manner.
  • He was vilified by his opponents.
• Vilifier (noun): a person who vilifies.
  • The anonymous vilifiers spread lies online.

Synonyms

• Defamation: the act of damaging someone's good reputation.
• Slander: the action of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person's reputation.
• Smear campaign: an attempt to damage someone's reputation by making false accusations.
• Calumny: the making of false and defamatory statements about someone.

Related Phrases

• Character assassination: a deliberate and vicious attempt to destroy a person's reputation.
  • The article was nothing short of character assassination.

Noun

1. a rude expression intended to offend or hurt
   • when a student made a stupid mistake he spared them no abuse
   • they yelled insults at the visiting team
2. slanderous defamation