English
vulgar
Pronunciation
  • (British) IPA: /ˈvʌl.ɡə/
  • (America) enPR: vŭlʹgər, IPA: /ˈvʌl.ɡɚ/
Adjective

vulgar

  1. Debased, uncouth, distasteful, obscene.
    • The construction worker made a vulgar suggestion to the girls walking down the street.
  2. (classical sense) Having to do with ordinary, common people.
    • 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.
    • 1860, G. Syffarth, "A Remarkable Seal in Dr. Abbott's Museum at New York", Transactions of the Academy of Science of St. Louis‎, age 265
      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. (especially, taxonomy) Common, usual; of the typical kind.
    the vulgar bush brown, Bicyclus vulgaris
    • 1869, Richard Francis Burton, The Highlands of the Brazil, page 85:
      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.
Synonyms Translations Translations Noun

vulgar (plural vulgars)

  1. (classicism) A common, ordinary person.
    • 2016, Evan Gottlieb, Juliet Shields, Representing Place in British Literature and Culture, 1660-1830
      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. (collective) The common people.
  3. The vernacular tongue or common language of a country.


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