as in abusive
marked by harsh insulting language
braced himself for another vitriolic dressing-down by his perennially displeased father
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for vitriolic
Adjective
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The decision sparked a firestorm on social media — where much of the debate around these issues is taking place — and Jackson-Smith was the target of abusive and threatening comments from both pro-Israel and pro-Palestine supporters.—
Scott Roxborough,
HollywoodReporter,
7 Aug. 2025 -
At the same time, Mahoney was dealing with legal battles against her abusive ex-boyfriend.—
Victoria Elena Valenzuela,
USA Today,
2 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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To not even reach 10 percent is insulting to all involved and indicates how much needs to change, which is exactly what a group of industry power players are attempting to do in Nashville.—
Steve Baltin,
Forbes.com,
23 July 2025
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And then, especially in the past several years, friends who stayed say: Honestly, this is kind of insulting—the way people keep talking about Lebanon from afar.—
Sahar Delijani
July 17,
Literary Hub,
17 July 2025
Adjective
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This game lets fans of telenovelas take on the outrageous characters and melodramatic plot twists to tell memorable stories.—
Rob Wieland,
Forbes.com,
6 Aug. 2025
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Yes, Trump had already made certain concessions in advance, by preemptively walking back his outrageous opening gambit in the tariff war when markets rebelled against the policy.—
Ross Douthat,
Mercury News,
3 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Even the company’s most vituperative detractors acknowledge its engineering genius and applaud its success in driving down launch expenses (unlike many defense contractors, SpaceX largely eats the cost of its failures).—
Franklin Foer,
The Atlantic,
28 July 2025
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Transcripts of the depositions conducted by utility lawyers were made public Friday in Superior Court and hundreds of pages of questions and answers suggest questions about who contributed what to the vituperative oped may never be answered to everyone’s satisfaction.—
Edmund H. Mahony,
Hartford Courant,
25 July 2025
Adjective
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The explosion of sports betting might not be the reason for the increase in personal invective being spewed at games.—
Paul Sullivan,
Chicago Tribune,
25 June 2025
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Between the time the former Marine Soto was indicted in 2018 and sentenced in 2020, then-President Donald Trump offered up vitriolic invective to Mexican officials.—
Sean Campbell,
The Conversation,
23 May 2025
Adjective
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The law requires pornographic websites to verify users’ ages – for example by making users scan and upload their driver’s license – before granting access to content that is deemed obscene for minors but not adults.—
Meg Leta Jones,
The Conversation,
27 June 2025
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Lawsuit alleges 'obscene' government overreach Longo's lawsuit, filed in Chemung County, New York, names the county, the city of Elmira and several DEC officers as defendants.—
Jeanine Santucci,
USA Today,
12 July 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Vitriolic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/vitriolic. Accessed 14 Aug. 2025.
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