1
as in evil
not conforming to a high moral standard; morally unacceptable a vile plot to murder their political enemies

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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Synonym Chooser

How does the adjective vile contrast with its synonyms?

The words base and low are common synonyms of vile. While all three words mean "deserving of contempt because of the absence of higher values," vile, the strongest of these words, tends to suggest disgusting depravity or filth.

a vile remark

When can base be used instead of vile?

The words base and vile are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, base stresses the ignoble and may suggest cruelty, treachery, greed, or grossness.

base motives

When is low a more appropriate choice than vile?

The meanings of low and vile largely overlap; however, low may connote crafty cunning, vulgarity, or immorality and regularly implies an outraging of one's sense of decency or propriety.

refused to listen to such low talk

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of vile The imitation Punisher logo on Cole’s bullet was no act of flattery, but the most vile of insults. Proma Khosla, IndieWire, 16 Apr. 2025 Fans, some of them little kids parroting what their parents were saying, called him vile names. Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 15 Apr. 2025 As previously reported by PEOPLE, alongside receiving vile and sexist messages after her phone number was posted online, the freshman was forced to relocate to emergency housing and switch to online classes to avoid vulgar in-person comments and people taking photographs of her. Latoya Gayle, People.com, 11 Apr. 2025 McCarthy handles these turns well, especially when other cisgender heterosexual boys try to enact the same plan with more vile intentions. Lovia Gyarkye, HollywoodReporter, 3 Apr. 2025 See All Example Sentences for vile
Recent Examples of Synonyms for vile
Adjective
  • Will the company itself go rogue and opt to use AGI for evil deeds?
    Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 17 May 2025
  • Save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way.
    Jeannie Suk Gersen, New Yorker, 15 May 2025
Adjective
  • The apps have a nasty trick that fools users into the initial download, and once on a phone, the damage is done.
    Zak Doffman, Forbes.com, 9 May 2025
  • He’s been the spirit of the Panthers’ skillfully nasty style the previous two springs.
    Dave Hyde, Sun Sentinel, 8 May 2025
Adjective
  • The series between the Warriors and the Rockets was slow, low scoring, and ugly—which is exactly how the younger, less experienced Rockets wanted it.
    Louisa Thomas, New Yorker, 11 May 2025
  • This wasn’t the first time Green was subjected to ugly behavior from opposing fans.
    Curtis Pashelka, Mercury News, 10 May 2025
Adjective
  • Altering Medicaid in any way that decreases services, decreases funding to the states, or builds roadblocks to care is immoral and against Christian values.
    Dr. James W. Cox-Chapman, Hartford Courant, 11 May 2025
  • Under him, juvenile justice is unjust, and the department has been spending in ways that are immoral and not proper accounting or spending of taxes.
    Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 8 May 2025
Adjective
  • They were bullied, beaten, humiliated, tortured and shot, with productive laborers crammed on top of one another in the dirty stone barracks—separately from the Jewish prisoners, whose numbers grew ever larger.
    Paul Hockenos, Smithsonian Magazine, 8 May 2025
  • Coal plants are also the dirtiest fossil fuel in terms of planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions.
    Sammy Roth, Los Angeles Times, 8 May 2025
Adjective
  • At dinnertime, the restaurant is busy, but not slammed; the crowd seems to be largely made up of people with beautiful hair and compellingly hideous shoes.
    Helen Rosner, New Yorker, 13 Apr. 2025
  • Within the span of a few days, an innocuous speck can turn a loaf of bread from prime sandwich material into a hideous mass of blue-green fuzz—an appetite-killing sight if ever there was one.
    Caroline Tien, SELF, 1 May 2025
Adjective
  • Two waste companies denied unlawful dumping, with one saying state law allows compostable material to be disposed on farmland and other properties for beneficial use.
    Susanne Rust, Los Angeles Times, 11 May 2025
  • Doyle was charged with unlawful imprisonment in the second degree and assault in the third degree.
    Chris Young Ritzen, CBS News, 10 May 2025
Adjective
  • Scheifele’s emotional and inspirational decision to play mere hours after his father’s unexpected death — to play for his dad, to play because of his dad — ended in cruel fashion, with Scheifele helpless in the penalty box.
    Mark Lazerus, New York Times, 18 May 2025
  • At first the program seems to be benign, but Hayakawa’s film steadily reveals how the policy thrives on the cruel capitalist tenet that people are disposable.
    Lovia Gyarkye, HollywoodReporter, 17 May 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Vile.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/vile. Accessed 22 May. 2025.

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