vulgar

vulgar

adjective

Definition of VULGAR

1

belonging to the class of people of low social or economic rank <paintings that appeal to vulgar tastes>

Synonyms baseborn, common, humble, inferior, low, lowborn, lower-class, low-life, lowly, lumpen, mean, plebeian, prole, proletarian, unwashed, vulgar

Related Words bourgeois, middle-class; plain, poor, simple, working-class; déclassé, down-market, downscale

Near Antonyms eminent, illustrious, notable, prominent

Antonyms aristocratic, blue-blooded, genteel, gentle, grand, great, high, highborn, highbred, lofty, noble, partrician, upper-class, upper-crust, wellborn

2

depicting or referring to sexual matters in a way that is unacceptable in polite society <a warning about the movie's vulgar language>

Synonyms bawdy, blue, coarse, crude, dirty, filthy, foul, gross, gutter, impure, indecent, lascivious, lewd, locker-room, nasty, pornographic, porny, profane, raunchy, ribald, smutty, stag, trashy, unprintable, vulgar, wanton, X-rated

Related Words broad, coarse-grained, gamy (or gamey), off, off-color (or off-colored), racy, risqué, salacious, salty, suggestive; barnyard, earthy, scatological; immodest, indecorous, indelicate, low, unbecoming; depraved, kinky, louche, naughty, perverse, perverted, wicked; exceptionable, objectionable, unacceptable, undesirable, unwanted, unwelcome; abhorrent, debasing, disgusting, loathsome, offensive, repellent (also repellant), repugnant, repulsive, revolting; distasteful, obnoxious, unpleasant; blamable, blameworthy, censurable, reprehensible; atrocious, infamous; abusive, scurrilous; hard-core, soft, soft-core

Near Antonyms priggish, prim, prudish, puritanical, staid, straitlaced (or straightlaced), Victorian; correct, decorous, genteel, nice, polite, proper, respectable, seemly; innocuous, inoffensive; acceptable, agreeable, desirable, pleasant, pleasing, welcome; appropriate, becoming, fit, meet, suitable; immaculate, perfect, pure, spotless, virginal; approved, endorsed (also indorsed), sanctioned

Antonyms clean, decent, G-rated, nonobscene, wholesome

3

held by or applicable to a majority of the people <the vulgar opinion is that the nation is in decline>

Synonyms common, majority, overall, popular, prevailing, public, received, ruling, vulgar

Related Words unanimous, universal; pop; everyday, familiar, household, usual, well-known; contemporary, current, present; dominant, predominant, preponderant; characteristic, typical; pandemic, pervasive, prevalent, rife, widespread; communal, shared

Near Antonyms rare, strange, unknown, unusual; distinctive, especial, idiosyncratic, peculiar, special, unique; individual, separate, singular; nonpublic, personal, private

Antonyms uncommon, unpopular

4

lacking in refinement or good taste <vulgar behavior shown by someone who's made a lot of money and wants everyone to know it>

Synonyms common, crass, crude, gross, ill-bred, illiberal [archaic], incult, insensible, low, lowbred, lowbrow, raffish, rough, rough-hewn, roughneck, rude, rugged, tasteless, uncouth, uncultivated, uncultured, unpolished, unrefined, vulgar

Related Words boorish, churlish, cloddish, clownish, loutish, ungentlemanly; clumsy, lubberly, lumpish, oafish; inconsiderate, indelicate, insensitive, thoughtless; countrified (also countryfied), provincial, rustic (also rustical), unsophisticated; graceless, inelegant, tacky; animallike, barbaric, barbarous, uncivilized; mannerless, unmannered, unmannerly

Near Antonyms aristocratic, courtly, patrician; elegant, graceful, restrained; considerate, gracious, sensitive, thoughtful; citified, sophisticated, urbane

Antonyms civilized, cultivated, cultured, genteel, polished, refined, smooth, tasteful, ultrarefined, well-bred

5

used in or suitable for speech and not formal writing <Latin was once the language of scholars, and English the vulgar language used by the common people>

Synonyms conversational, informal, nonformal, nonliterary, unbookish, unliterary, vernacular, vulgar

Related Words dialectal, dialectical (also dialectic), nonstandard, regional; incorrect, nongrammatical, substandard, uneducated, ungrammatical, unlearned; slang, slangy

Near Antonyms standard, undialectical; correct, educated, genteel, grammatical, proper

Antonyms bookish, formal, learned, literary