The Oxford Thesaurus - An A-Z Dictionary Of Synonyms

high-principled, upright, righteous, pure, uncorrupted, incorruptible, just, fair, right-minded, fair-minded,

high-minded, scrupulous, trustworthy: Thomas has proved himself a virtuous young man. 2 chaste, innocent, virginal, virgin;

decent, proper, unsullied, faithful, true, uncorrupted: A virtuous woman makes a virtuous wife.

virulence n. 1 virulency, poisonousness, venomousness, toxicity, noxiousness, deadliness, perniciousness, injuriousness, destructiveness, malignity, malignancy, violence, balefulness: The virulence of his affliction was not recognized till it was too late. 2 virulency, acrimony, acrimoniousness, bitterness, acerbity, rancour, spleen, poison, poisonousness, venom, venomousness, malignity, malevolence, maliciousness, malice, spite, hostility, resentment, antagonism, hatred: We were taken

aback by the virulence of the priest's attack on Miss Thompson's morals.

virulent adj. 1 lethal, life-threatening, deadly, fatal, pernicious, septic, poisonous, toxic, baleful, noxious, dangerous, harmful, injurious, detrimental, deleterious, destructive, unhealthy,

unwholesome: He died from a virulent form of dysentery that he caught in the tropics. 2 vicious, venomous, bitter, spiteful, malignant, malign, malicious, malevolent, poisonous, splenetic, acrimonious, acerbic, acid, mordant, sarcastic, nasty,

trenchant, caustic, antagonistic, hateful, hostile: What did I do to the reviewer of The Herald to merit such a virulent review?

visible adj. 1 seeable, perceivable, perceptible, discernible, detectable, discoverable, noticeable, unmistakable or unmistakeable, clear, obvious, observable; visual: The visible part of the energy spectrum is relatively small. The entrance holes to their burrows were clearly visible. 2 obvious, conspicuous, evident, apparent, prominent, manifest, distinct, patent, well-defined, identifiable: The consequences of the Act of Union of 1707 are still visible in Scotland today.

vision n. 1 eyesight, perception, sight: The optician said there is nothing wrong with MacKenzie's vision. 2 far-sightedness, understanding, imagination, foresight, foresightedness, insight: MacKenzie has brought great vision to this scheme for developing the Australian outback. 3 view, perspective, perception,

envisioning, envisaging, dream, idea, plan, scheme: MacKenzie's vision of making the desert bloom seemed impossibly remote. 4 phantom, apparition, chimera, delusion, hallucination, mirage, spectre, shade, eidolon, revenant, phantasm, materialization, illusion, ghost, wraith: A vision appeared to MacKenzie as he slept, telling him that her name was Alice Springs. 5 sight for sore eyes, (welcome) sight, dream, epitome: To MacKenzie Alice was a vision of great beauty, and he proposed marriage.

visionary adj. 1 dreamy, speculative, unpractical, impractical, fanciful, imaginary, unrealistic, unreal, romantic, idealistic,

unworkable, Utopian: It is a pity that none of MacKenzie's visionary plans ever came to pass.

--n. 2 dreamer, idealist, romantic, fantast, wishful thinker,

Don Quixote: The world needs more visionaries like MacKenzie.

visit v. 1 (go or come to) see, call (in or on or upon), look in on, stop in or by, Colloq pop in or by, drop in (on), take in: I plan to visit Leslie. Did you visit the Smithsonian Institution? 2 afflict, attack, befall, fall upon, assail, seize, smite, scourge, descend upon, inflict, affect: Horrible diseases and tortures were said to visit those who denied God.

--n. 3 stay, call, sojourn, stop, stopover: The minister will be here for only a brief visit.

visitation

n. 1 staying, calling, visiting, sojourning, stopping (over): The father has visitation rights to his children on weekends. 2 affliction, ordeal, trial, punishment, disaster, catastrophe, cataclysm, calamity, tragedy, curse, scourge, blight, plague, pestilence: In the story, the tyrant succumbed finally to a visitation from the Almighty.

required, indispensable, mandatory, compulsory, cardinal, fundamental, basic, critical, crucial, central, pivotal: Air

and water are vital for the existence of most known organisms. 2 important, key, central, critical, crucial, life-and-death or

life-or-death, pivotal, paramount, main: In an emergency, the captain must make the vital decision whether to abandon ship. This is a matter of vital concern for us all. 3 lively, full of life, vivacious, spirited, vigorous, dynamic, alive, animated,

brisk, energetic: We have lost a vital member of the community. She took a vital interest in community affairs. 4 invigorating, quickening, life-giving, animating, vitalizing, reviving, vivifying, enlivening, rejuvenating: I could feel the vital energies returning to my limbs.

vitality n. 1 energy, life, life-force, vigour, power, intensity, force, liveliness,, vivacity, vivaciousness, animation, sparkle, spiritedness, exuberance, Colloq zing, pep, pizazz, oomph, get-up-and-go, zip, vim: My great-grandfather has the vitality of a forty-year-old. 2 stamina, hardiness, endurance, energy, strength, robustness: Does this society have the vitality needed to take it into the next decade?

vitalize v. stimulate, activate, arouse, vivify, animate, awaken, inspirit, invigorate, enliven, inspire, revive, rejuvenate, innervate, energize, fortify, reinvigorate, renew, refresh, charge (up): The tonic vitalized him to the point where he felt young again.

vitiate v. 1 spoil, ruin, harm, impair, mar, sully, corrupt, pervert, contaminate, adulterate, weaken, degrade, downgrade, depreciate, diminish, depress, vulgarize, lower, reduce, undermine: Words appropriated from other languages tend to enrich rather than vitiate modern English. 2 debase, deprave, pervert, corrupt, demoralize, defile: Despite other strengths his entire

character was vitiated by overriding avarice. 3 invalidate, destroy, delete, cancel, nullify, annul, revoke, void, abrogate, abolish, withdraw, quash, suppress: The invoice was effectively vitiated by the plaintiff's failure to deliver the goods.

vituperate

v. berate, rate, reproach, revile, vilify, execrate, abuse, denounce, decry, deprecate, disparage, devalue, diminish, put down, run down, devaluate, depreciate, blame, inculpate, censure, find fault with, attack, assail, castigate, scold, reprimand, upbraid, rebuke, chide, chasten: From the pulpit he continued to vituperate the vices of the court.

vituperative

adj. abusive, calumniatory, calumnious, scurrilous, derogatory, belittling, depreciatory, depreciative, detractory,

contemptuous, damning, denunciatory, denigrating, deprecatory, censorious, aspersive, defamatory, slanderous, libellous, castigatory, condemnatory, malign, scornful, withering, harsh, sardonic, sarcastic, biting, acid, contumelious, opprobrious, insulting, Formal vilipenditory, Colloq down-putting: Why should he have directed this vituperative speech at the very person whom he loves?

vivacious adj. lively, spirited, sprightly, energetic, animated, brisk, ebullient, effervescent, bubbly, gay, cheerful, happy, blithe, jaunty, light-hearted, sunny, merry, high-spirited, buoyant, chipper, Colloq up, peppy, full of pep, full of beans, zippy:

Had he not gone on the cruise, Michael would never have met the vivacious redhead who became his bride.

vivid adj. 1 intense, strong, brilliant, fresh, bright, dazzling, lucid, rich, clear, colourful, glowing: Michel looked splendid in a silk dress of vivid yellow. 2 clear, detailed, sharp, realistic, graphic, true to life, lifelike, distinct, powerful, strong, memorable, dramatic, striking: It brought back to me vivid memories of our first meeting in 1985. 3 prolific, fruitful, fertile, fecund, inventive, creative: That kiss,

which never took place, is a figment of Bagley's vivid imagination.

22.4 vocalist...

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vocalist n. singer, soloist, choirboy, choir girl, choir member, chorus-boy, chorus girl, chorus-member, chorister, caroller; diva, prima donna, chanteuse; cantor, crooner; Colloq songbird, canary, thrush, nightingale: It was sung by a female vocalist with a high-pitched girlish voice.

vocation n. calling, trade, m‚tier, business, profession, occupation, career, employment, job, pursuit, life's-work, life-work, line (of work), Slang bag, thing: I left university with no particular vocation in mind.

rescind, reverse, abnegate, abrogate: They had to void the accusation for lack of evidence. 7 evacuate, discharge, expel, emit, purge, clear, empty, drain, eject; pass, excrete, urinate, defecate: The tanker went far out to sea before voiding its tanks. This medication will help in voiding the patient's bowels.

volatile adj. 1 vaporizing, evaporable, evaporative: A volatile solvent, which evaporates quickly, is the vehicle for thermosetting plastics. 2 changeable, fickle, flighty, inconstant, erratic, restless, unstable, variable, mercurial, capricious: She was so volatile that one could never predict what she would do next. 3 explosive, hair-trigger, sensitive, charged, eruptive, tense, tension-ridden: Be careful of Christine's volatile temper.

volition n. (free) will, choice, option, choosing, choice, discretion, preference: She pursued a course of her own volition.

volley n. 1 salvo, bombardment, barrage, cannonade, fusillade, discharge, hail, shower: A volley of shot struck the tower, which collapsed. 2 outpouring, torrent, flood, deluge, inundation, burst, storm, outbreak: The cracks of the muleteer's whip were accompanied by a volley of abuse. 3 give and take, to-and-fro, interaction, reciprocity, exchange, volleying, crossfire, badinage, bantering: Samuel enjoyed the volley of haggling that accompanied every sale.

total, aggregate: The volume of ore from the mine created a pile hundreds of feet high. Her volume of output is greater than yours and mine together. 2 capacity, size, measure: The volume of this bottle is not more than a litre. 3 loudness: Turn down the volume on that ghetto-blaster. 4 book, tome: I bought a twenty-volume set of Dickens.

voluminous

adj. 1 large, extensive, great, spacious, capacious, expansive,

vouch v. Usually, vouch for. support, guarantee, back (up), endorse, certify; uphold, sponsor, bear witness, attest to: My neighbour will vouch for me. Can she vouch for your not leaving the house all evening?

vouchsafe v. 1 offer, give (up), yield, accord, supply, grant, impart, bestow, deign or condescend to give: The minister vouchsafed no information regarding interest rates. 2 permit, allow, suffer:

The government vouchsafed the hostages safe passage out of the country.

22.5 vulgar...

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vulgar adj. 1 indelicate, boorish, uncultured, uncultivated, low, unrefined, common, plebeian, inelegant, unladylike, ungentlemanly, gauche, uncouth, coarse, tasteless, ostentatious, ignoble, low-class, Colloq flash: The boss's wife was known for

her vulgar behaviour at the dinner table. 2 tasteless, indelicate, indecent, rude, crude, naughty, dirty, improper, off colour, risqu‚, ribald, blue, indecorous, nasty, offensive, gross, lustful, obscene, lewd, lascivious, licentious, smutty,

salacious, scatological, filthy, pornographic, Slang US raunchy: He made a lot of money through publishing vulgar magazines and videos. 3 popular, vernacular, ordinary, everyday, general, homespun, commonplace, household, average: Dictionaries should record the vulgar language as well as the literary.

vulgarity n. 1 coarseness, lack of refinement or sophistication, crudeness, rudeness, indelicacy, tawdriness, baseness, humbleness, unsophistication, gaucherie, gaucheness, ignobility: When you consider his upbringing you can scarcely blame him for his vulgarity. 2 impropriety, lewdness, grossness, foulness, vileness, filthiness, obscenity, Slang US raunchiness: The magazine was refused an import licence because of its vulgarity.

vulnerable

adj. exposed, defenceless, weak, sensitive, unprotected, unguarded, unshielded, helpless, powerless: She felt vulnerable to those who prey on the elderly.

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23.1 wad...

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pocketful, heap, quantity, load, Colloq US bankroll: Over coffee James handed him a wad of notes.

only knee-deep, and you can wade across. 2 paddle, play,