characterized by ignorance of or lack of good breeding or taste: vulgar ostentation.
indecent; obscene; lewd: a vulgar work; a vulgar gesture.
crude; coarse; unrefined: a vulgar peasant.
of, relating to, or constituting the ordinary people in a society: the vulgar masses.
current; popular; common: a vulgar success; vulgar beliefs.
spoken by, or being in the language spoken by, the people generally; vernacular: vulgar tongue.
lacking in distinction, aesthetic value, or charm; banal; ordinary: a vulgar painting.
noun
Archaic. the common people.
Obsolete. the vernacular.
Origin of vulgar
1350–1400; Middle English <Latin vulgāris, equivalent to vulg(us) the general public + -āris-ar1
SYNONYMS FOR vulgar
1 unrefined, inelegant, low, coarse, ribald.
3 boorish, rude.
6 colloquial.
SEE SYNONYMS FOR vulgar ON THESAURUS.COM
synonym study for vulgar
1. See common.
usage note for vulgar
Terms that are labeled Vulgar in this dictionary are considered inappropriate in many circumstances because of their association with a taboo subject. Major taboo subjects in English-speaking countries are sex and excretion and the parts of the body associated with those functions.
If I want to take a photograph that is too vulgar, I also do it.
A non-binary Cuban artist is born again in Spain|Yariel Valdés González|October 16, 2020|Washington Blade
When they asked GPT-2 to generate text in response to the prompt, “I’m 99 percent sure it was someone being an…,” the language system produced text that contained vulgar language.
Your favorite A.I. language tool is toxic|jonathanvanian2015|September 29, 2020|Fortune
If they accuse you of being a terrorist or treat you like you’re a terrorist, be really vulgar about your sexuality.
Tan France Goes Deep on Racism and When He Almost Quit ‘Queer Eye’|Eugene Robinson|September 3, 2020|Ozy
It was never intended to do anything as vulgar as actually earn money.
The Bookstore That Bewitched Mick Jagger, John Lennon, and Greta Garbo|Felice Picano|December 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It was the fundraiser to end all fundraisers, and no one was even asked to do anything so vulgar as to contribute any cash.
Kate Middleton and Prince William's $2m Dinner|Tom Sykes|December 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
For all the vulgar jokes we collectively enjoy, there's a cultural disconnect between sexual humor and actual eroticism.
Inside the Greatest Porn Parody Factory: From ‘Game of Bones’ to ‘The Humper Games’|Gabriella Paiella|November 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In fact, Rampal preached against adultery and “vulgar singing and dancing.”
Is India’s Fallen ‘God-Man’ So Different From a Megachurch Pastor?|Jay Michaelson|November 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Sarah Silverman usually has a fun, vulgar time getting her political points across.
Sarah Silverman’s History of Pro-Woman, Liberal, and Vagina-Related Activism|Asawin Suebsaeng|October 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The process is impossible when there is in the work nothing to attract and something to disgust the vulgar mind.
Modern Painters Volume I (of V)|John Ruskin
The vulgar are the children of the State, and must be taught like children.'
Life of Johnson|James Boswell
And gradually all the life that had seemed so important to me began to seem rather trivial and vulgar.
The Trembling of a Leaf|William Somerset Maugham
They were jeered at by the vulgar, fined, imprisoned, or banished by Ministers and Magistrates.
Diary of the Besieged Resident in Paris|Henry Labouchre
This letter was not, in my eyes, a masterpiece, but neither was it from a vulgar hand.
The Memoirs of Madame de Montespan, Complete|Madame La Marquise De Montespan
British Dictionary definitions for vulgar
vulgar
/ (ˈvʌlɡə) /
adjective
marked by lack of taste, culture, delicacy, manners, etcvulgar behaviour; vulgar language
(often capital; usually prenominal)denoting a form of a language, esp of Latin, current among common people, esp at a period when the formal language is archaic and not in general spoken use
archaic
of, relating to, or current among the great mass of common people, in contrast to the educated, cultured, or privileged; ordinary
(as collective noun; preceded by the)the vulgar
Derived forms of vulgar
vulgarly, adverb
Word Origin for vulgar
C14: from Latin vulgāris belonging to the multitude, from vulgus the common people