adj. 1. a. Crudely indecent: a vulgar joke. b. Deficient in taste, consideration, or refinement: "that vulgar jockeying for position around the bedside of the gravely ill" (Susan Sontag). c. Given to crudity or tastelessness, as in one's behavior: "He relentlessly vilified the studio executives as vulgar, ignorant hoodlums" (Marion Meade). d. Offensively excessive in self-display or expenditure; ostentatious: the huge vulgar houses and cars of the newly rich. 2. Spoken by or expressed in language spoken by the common people; vernacular: the technical and vulgar names for an animal species. 3. Of or associated with the great masses of people; common. [Middle English, of or relating to the common people, from Latin vulgāris, from vulgus, the common people.] vulgar·ly adv. vulgar·ness n. |
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