Dictionary

vulgarize en · VERB

Pronunciation

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Etymology

Etymology tree English vulgar Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íd͏̌d͏̌ō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō)bor. Late Latin -izōder. Middle French -iserbor. Middle English -isen English -ize English vulgarize From vulgar + -ize.

Meanings

1. To make vulgar. ▸ To make commonplace, crass, lewd.
   • "Yes," said Mr. Flushing. "And in my opinion," he continued, "the absence of population to which Hirst objects is precisely the significant touch. You must admit, Hirst, that a little Italian town even would vulgarise the whole scene, would detract from the vastness — the sense of elemental grandeur." 1915, Virginia Woolf, The Voyage Out:
   • With much labor we got our things up the steps, and then, looking back, took one last long survey of that strange land, soon I fear to be vulgarized, the prey of hunter and prospector, but to each of us a dreamland of glamour and romance, a land where we had dared much, suffered much, and learned much - our land, as we shall ever fondly call it. 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
   • Words only vulgarize love and blunt its edge. 1920, Edward Carpenter, Pagan and Christian Creeds, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., published 1921, page 167:
2. To make vulgar. ▸ To convert (religious rites) so as to use the vulgate (language of the commoners).

Forms

Antonyms

ennoble

Deriveds

unvulgarize · devulgarize · vulgarizer

Synonyms

dumb down · debase

Translations (8)

fr vulgariser (To make something vulgar) · el εκχυδαΐζω (To make something vulgar) · fi vulgaaristaa (To make something vulgar) · it volgarizzare (To make something vulgar) · es vulgarizar (To make something vulgar) · ia vulgarisar (To make something vulgar) · ka გაუხამსება (To make something vulgar) · ka გავულგარულება (To make something vulgar)