As a lot of this blog is about writing, I wanted to write a regular article on my favourite forgotten words. You know the type of thing, those poor lost words that sit at the back of our minds, gathering dust, having been discovered years ago in literary classics like Dickens, or Austen. They are the spices of the literary world, but I refuse to let them sit in a cupboard and be ignored until they go out of date! Let’s bring them back!
This month’s word is: VITUPERATE
Vituperate
Blame or insult someone in strong, violent language
I can’t say that I’ve vituperated anyone or anything in quite a while. As it’s using strong or violent language the last time was probably when I was giving birth and I vituperated both my newborn baby and my husband at the same time.
I think the key to using this word effectively is in noticing that it says strong or violent language according the Oxford English Dictionaries definition. It’s a good word for when you want something a little stronger than argue, but I’d use it with care, it still needs to fit well in your sentence and let the reader know what you mean.
Do you think you’d ever use vituperate rather than argue or is it just too old to be useful? Let me know in the comments below!