billingsgate

Synonym Chooser

How is the word billingsgate distinct from other similar nouns?

Some common synonyms of billingsgate are abuse, invective, obloquy, and vituperation. While all these words mean "vehemently expressed condemnation or disapproval," billingsgate implies practiced fluency and variety of profane or obscene abuse.

directed a stream of billingsgate at the cabdriver

When is abuse a more appropriate choice than billingsgate?

The synonyms abuse and billingsgate are sometimes interchangeable, but abuse, the most general term, usually implies the anger of the speaker and stresses the harshness of the language.

scathing verbal abuse

In what contexts can invective take the place of billingsgate?

In some situations, the words invective and billingsgate are roughly equivalent. However, invective implies a comparable vehemence but suggests greater verbal and rhetorical skill and may apply to a public denunciation.

blistering political invective

When could obloquy be used to replace billingsgate?

The words obloquy and billingsgate are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, obloquy suggests defamation and consequent shame and disgrace.

subjected to obloquy and derision

Where would vituperation be a reasonable alternative to billingsgate?

While in some cases nearly identical to billingsgate, vituperation implies fluent and sustained abuse.

a torrent of vituperation

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for billingsgate
Noun
  • The Trump administration says its workforce restructuring is part of the president's efforts to cut waste, fraud and abuse and improve Americans' lives, White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Harrison Fields told ABC News.
    Arthur Jones II, ABC News, 5 Aug. 2025
  • In the United States, more than 60% of people participating in the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey reported experiencing emotional abuse and 31.8% reported physical abuse.
    Madeline Holcombe, CNN Money, 5 Aug. 2025
Noun
  • Several diss tracks followed, with the musicians hurling increasingly spiteful insults at each other relating to accusations of domestic abuse, exploitation and pedophilia.
    Winston Cho, HollywoodReporter, 13 Aug. 2025
  • According to a cell phone video, obtained through CAIR, the man shouted several Islamophobic insults, including insults attacking Islam and the Prophet Muhammad.
    Sean Krofssik, Hartford Courant, 11 Aug. 2025
Noun
  • The actor also has been involved in occurrences of being verbal and physically aggressive, hurling racists invectives, as well as being out and out violent on a number of occasions.
    Dominic Patten, Deadline, 22 July 2025
  • After nights of clashes, then-President Donald Trump, known for issuing directives and invectives through social media, fired off a series of posts shortly before 1 a.m. on Friday, May 29, 2020.
    Chelsea Bailey, CNN Money, 24 May 2025
Noun
  • The politicization of the COVID response has only worsened this trend, likely resulting in part from Trump’s vituperation.
    Matt Motta, Scientific American, 29 Oct. 2024
  • Flash forward 92-plus years to Donald Trump’s rally Sunday at New York’s Madison Square Garden, a bleak, lurid festival of racist hate and profane vituperation so vile that even fellow Republicans, who have turned a blind eye to Trump’s character for years, are distancing themselves from the event.
    Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 29 Oct. 2024
Noun
  • Two weeks after first pointing a firehose of blistering criticism at the Donald Trump administration, South Park is still going full bore against Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.
    Ryan Coleman, EW.com, 13 Aug. 2025
  • YouTube and other social media platforms are cracking down on age verification measures after facing criticism that teens could circumvent their safeguards by signing up with a fake birthdate.
    Clare Duffy, CNN Money, 13 Aug. 2025
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.

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Cite this Entry

“Billingsgate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/billingsgate. Accessed 20 Aug. 2025.

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