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 The two top Democrats on the intelligence oversight panels expressed vehement objections on Friday, portraying Mr. Trump’s move as political and retribution. — Maggie Haberman, New York Times, "Trump to Fire Intelligence Watchdog Who Had Key Role in Ukraine Complaint," 3 Apr. 2020 Some of the most vehement protest activity, in Michigan, has been organized by the Michigan Conservative Coalition. — Anchorage Daily News, "Pro-gun activists use Facebook groups to push anti-quarantine protests," 20 Apr. 2020 This prestige, in Mr. Boes’s telling, was partly a reward for Mann’s increasingly vehement criticism of the Nazis. — Duncan White, WSJ, "‘Thomas Mann’s War’ Review: The Man and the Moment," 7 Feb. 2020 This analysis was later placed in evidence to prove the innocence of the accused, despite vehement scientific criticism of the method. — Theodor Schaarschmidt, Scientific American, "The Art of Lying," 11 July 2018 In the first tranche of text messages released earlier that week by the House emerged a new character: Hyde, a Republican congressional candidate in Connecticut with a history of controversial behavior and vehement support for Trump. — Anna Schecter, NBC News, "Trump supporter from Europe sues Robert Hyde for defamation," 24 Jan. 2020 But one of the most vehement criticisms of Stephens in this case has been about his decision to loop in Karpf’s boss, potentially putting the professor’s job at risk. — Sarah Todd, Quartz at Work, "Is it ever okay to express your anger by emailing someone else’s boss?," 27 Aug. 2019 Graham, one of Trump’s most vehement defenders in the Senate, was shown in the video, younger and with much more hair, confidently announcing that of course a President can be impeached for transgressions that are not covered by criminal law. — Susan B. Glasser, The New Yorker, "Trolling Day at the Trump Trial," 24 Jan. 2020 Still others came from only a few counties over, but carrying the same vehement message as the rest: Leave gun laws alone. — New York Times, "Amid Tight Security, Virginia Gun Rally Draws Thousands of Supporters," 20 Jan. 2020

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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