Definition of VEHEMENTLY

Examples of vehement in a Sentence

Cranes rise above the old rooftops, adding new office towers and new condominiums and new malls to a city where Jonathan Swift once issued his vehement bulletins. — Pete Hamill, Gourmet, April 2007 As they shouted and mocked, I wondered how they could have developed such intense, vehement hatred toward people with whom they had had no previous contact. — Todd Hechtman, The News/Sun-Sentinel, 1 Feb. 1987 He cursed himself like a less scrupulous Job, as a vehement man will do when he loses self-respect, the last mental prop under poverty. — Thomas Hardy, The Mayor of Casterbridge, 1886 Both the ladies indulged in vehement screaming for several minutes; and Mr. Cymon Tuggs, besides sustaining intense bodily pain, had the additional mental anguish of witnessing their distressing situation, without having the power to rescue them, by reason of his leg being firmly screwed in between the animal and the wall. — Charles Dickens, Sketches by "Boz", 1836 He issued a vehement denial of the accusation. The proposal has faced vehement opposition from many teachers. She was vehement about the need for new safety measures.

Recent Examples on the Web

Merkel’s Christian Democratic government is vehement in its opposition to the rising anti-Semitism. — Fox News, "Anti-Semitism on the rise in Germany as Jewish business owners and students are targeted online," 2 Aug. 2018 The story provoked unusually vehement denials about its accuracy. — Jon Talton, The Seattle Times, "Beijing’s ‘Trojan chips’ present a risk to more than corporations," 9 Oct. 2018 Depending on the politics or representation involved, fans and critics react on social media and news sites with either celebration or vehement backlash. — Patricia Hernandez, The Verge, "Vincent D’Onofrio asks Twitter to weigh in on whether playing an ‘irredeemable racist’ is constructive," 13 Aug. 2018 The most vehement opposition to bail reform has come from the bail industry, which wants to protect its bottom line. — Jason L. Riley, WSJ, "Bipartisanship on Bail," 25 Sep. 2018 The package, which prompted vehement criticism from the European Union and human rights groups, could still be vetoed by Hungary’s president, Janos Ader, but such a scenario is seen as highly unlikely. — Laura King, latimes.com, "The European country that makes the U.S. look lenient on immigration," 28 June 2018 David McNew/Getty Images Surprised by vehement public reaction, President Donald Trump has decreed an end to the policy of separating arriving asylum seekers from their children. — David A. Martin, Vox, "How to fix the crisis caused by Central American asylum seekers — humanely," 2 July 2018 After casting his vote Sunday, current President Juan Manuel Santos — who has been in office since 2010 but was ineligible to run again — noted that both Duque and Petro have been vehement critics of his administration. — Jim Wyss, miamiherald, "Ivan Duque beats former guerrilla to win Colombia's presidential election," 17 June 2018 In San Francisco last week, voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure upholding a ban on flavored tobacco products — over the vehement objections of the tobacco industry. — Kaiser Health News, Washington Post, "Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ California Here We Come," 14 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'vehement.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for vehement

borrowed from Middle French, going back to Old French, borrowed from Latin vehement-, vehemens, vēmens "violent, vigorous, (of feelings) overmastering, powerful," perhaps from vehere "to convey, carry along, drive" + -mens, adjective suffix (as in clēmens "mild, calm") of uncertain origin

Note: Alternatively explained as a prefix vē- "faulty, excessive or deficient" and ment-, mens "mind," in which case -ehe- is an unetymological spelling of the long vowel. Though this would account for vehemens in place of *vehimens (with normal vowel weakening), the word never has the sense "mentally deranged" (the meanings of the presumed parallel formations vēcors and vēsānus).

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