as in abusive
marked by harsh insulting language
braced himself for another vitriolic dressing-down by his perennially displeased father
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Recent Examples of vitriolic
Trump posted about the tragic news on Monday morning, upsetting many with his vitriolic reaction to Rob's death, in particular.
—
Meredith Kile, PEOPLE, 15 Dec. 2025
The travel advisory follows official protest from both sides related to the incident – with each country summoning the other’s ambassador – and a surge of vitriolic backlash against Takaichi from within China, where nationalist, anti-Japanese sentiment has been on the rise in recent years.
—Simone McCarthy, CNN Money, 15 Nov. 2025
At his own campaign closing event on Wednesday, a baying crowd was whipped up by Kaiser's vitriolic anti-communism and attacks on progressive values.
—NPR, 14 Nov. 2025
The violence in Chicago against law enforcement is unprecedented—These attacks are the consequence of vitriolic smears from sanctuary politicians and the media.
—Dan Gooding, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Nov. 2025
Whether ecstatic or vitriolic, the attention the book garnered was unprecedented.
—Via Scribner, Literary Hub, 7 Oct. 2025
One of the most viral and vitriolic critiques came from Crissle West, co-host of the popular pop-culture podcast The Read.
—Meagan Jordan, Rolling Stone, 3 Oct. 2025
But the vitriolic attacks and reemerging calls to boycott the Super Bowl come as no surprise.
—Raquel Reichard, Refinery29, 30 Sep. 2025
As most artists have to deal with vitriolic comments from online haters to some degree, HARDY seems to have found his best way of dealing with it.
—Jessica Nicholson, Billboard, 26 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for vitriolic
Adjective
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On The Rookie, Jenna Dewan shared screentime with her real-life fiancé, Steve Kazee, who played her frightening, abusive husband, Jason Wyler.—
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The story follows a young woman, a lifelong swimmer and Olympic hopeful, who accepts a college swimming scholarship in Texas in order to escape an abusive father and an alcoholic, suicidal mother.—
Adjective
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Many researchers cite those exact words as insulting or wrong when asked about their own terminations.—
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With two toddlers and a 10-hour workday for her husband, the advice was more insulting than helpful.—
Adjective
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De Laurentiis took all the chaos in stride and was the expert judge for the cooking portion of the outrageous lineup of competitions.—
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The lawsuit also alleges WSU was liable for claims of outrageous conduct and other forms of negligence.—
Adjective
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Juxtaposed with these vituperative remarks are, naturally, shots of Trump seemingly falling asleep while on camera.—
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From his pulpit, Wicks rains down selectively vituperative fire and brimstone, with an eye toward provoking walkouts from unsuspecting visitors—say, a gay couple or a single mom.—
Adjective
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For twenty hours a day, from about 5 a.m. to 1 a.m., Loomer releases torrents of accusations and invective, an infinite scroll of alleged misdeeds and nefarious connections.—
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The comments can be laced with insult, character attack and invective.—
Adjective
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Indonesia, with the world’s biggest Muslim population, has strict rules that ban the sharing online of content deemed obscene.—
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Sylvie's storylines are ridiculous, her wardrobe obscene, her audacity unparalleled.—
Cite this Entry
“Vitriolic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/vitriolic. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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