vulgarism
noun
vulgarism is a noun meaning “Vulgarity” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled V-U-L-G-A-R-I-S-M, and it appears about once in every 89 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of vulgarism is vulgarisms.
What does vulgarism mean?
noun
- 1
Vulgarity.
Amidst his manuscript notes for Democratic Vistas he [Walt Whitman] wrote himself a reminder to "offset the statement of depravity [and] vulgarism ... of the masses by a full acknowledgment of the latent heroism."
- 2
A word or term that is considered offensive or vulgar.
"Shit" is a vulgarism.
- 3
A spelling, word, or phrase used in common speech that is considered improper or incorrect for formal communication.
Editors of newspapers allow more vulgarisms to go to print today than they used to.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Forms of vulgarism
- vulgarisms plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is vulgarism?
Vulgarism appears about once in every 89 million words in written English, the 301,415th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Vulgarism in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | Vulgarismus |
| Spanish | vulgarismo |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does vulgarism come from?
From vulgar + -ism.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).