different between macabre vs vile

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French macabre, whose etymology is uncertain, but possibly derives from the term danse macabre – the attribute of which was construed as an adjective – most commonly believed to be from corruption of the biblical name Maccabees; compare Latin Chorea Machabaeorum.

Another theory derives the term from Spanish macabro, from Arabic ????????? (maq?bir, “cemeteries”), plural of ?????????? (maqbara) or ?????????? (maqbura). Borrowing Arabic in plural form is not unusual: a similar case is the word magazine, derived from the plural ????? max?zin of the Arabic singular noun ???? maxzan "storehouse/depot/shop".

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /m??k??b??/, /m??k??b?(?)/
• (US) IPA^(key): /m??k?b/, /m??k?b??/, /m??k?b?/
• Homophone: McCobb

Adjective

macabre (comparative more macabre, superlative most macabre)

1. Representing or personifying death.
   • 1941, George C. Booth, Mexico's School-made Society, page 106

     There are four fundamental figures. One is a man measuring and comparing his world […] In front of him is a macabre figure, a cadaver ready to be dissected. This symbolizes man serving mankind. The third figure is the scientist, the man who makes use of the information gathered in the first two fields of mensurable science.

2. Obsessed with death or the gruesome.
   • 1993, Theodore Ziolkowski, "Wagner's Parsifal between Mystery and Mummery", in Werner Sollors (ed.), The Return of Thematic Criticism, pages 274-275

     Indeed, in the 1854 draft of Tristan he planned to have Parzival visit the dying knight, and both operas display the same macabre obsession with bloody gore and festering wounds.

3. Ghastly, shocking, terrifying.
   • 1927 [1938], H. P. Lovecraft, Supernatural Horror in Literature, Introduction

     The appeal of the spectrally macabre is generally narrow because it demands from the reader a certain degree of imagination and a capacity for detachment from every-day life.

   Synonyms: ghastly, horrifying, shocking, terrifying

Derived terms

• danse macabre

Translations

See also

• Danse Macabre on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

References

Anagrams

• carbeam

Catalan

Etymology

From French macabre

Adjective

macabre (feminine macabra, masculine and feminine plural macabres)

1. macabre

French

Etymology

From Danse Macabre (“dance of death”), from Old French, usually said to be from Macabé (“Maccabee”), in reference to a mystery play depicting their slaughter. See Maccabee.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ma.kab?/

Adjective

macabre (plural macabres)

1. macabre

Synonyms

• lugubre

Derived terms

• danse macabre

Further reading

• “macabre” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

References

Italian

Adjective

macabre

1. feminine plural of macabro

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ma?ka.bre]

Adjective

macabre

1. nominative feminine plural of macabru
2. accusative feminine plural of macabru
3. nominative neuter plural of macabru
4. accusative neuter plural of macabru

English

Etymology

From Old French vil, from Latin vilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /va?l/
• Rhymes: -a?l
• Homophone: vial

Adjective

vile (comparative viler or more vile, superlative vilest or most vile)

1. Morally low; base; despicable.
2. Causing physical or mental repulsion; horrid.

Synonyms

• (morally low): base, despicable, mean, ignoble

Derived terms

• vilify

Translations

Anagrams

• Levi, Viel, evil, live, veil, vlei

Albanian

Etymology

A formation from vjel (“to pluck, harvest”).

Noun

vile f (indefinite plural vile, definite singular vilja, definite plural vilet)

1. bunch of grape

Related terms

• vjel
• vjell

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?v?l?]

Noun

vile f

1. dative/locative singular of vila

Estonian

Etymology

From vilisema +? -e.

Noun

vile (genitive vile, partitive vilet)

1. whistle

Declension

French

Adjective

vile

1. feminine singular of vil

Italian

Etymology

From Latin v?lis (“cheap”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?vi.le/

Adjective

vile (plural vili)

1. cowardly, dastardly

   Synonyms: codardo, vigliacco

2. base, miserable, mean

   Synonym: miserabile

3. cheap, worthless, base

   Synonym: privo di valore

Noun

vile m or f (plural vili)

1. coward

   Synonyms: fifone, codardo

Derived terms

• avvilire
• svilire

Related terms

• vilmente
• viltà
• vilipendio

Anagrams

• levi, live, veli

Latin

Adjective

v?le

1. inflection of v?lis:
   1. nominative neuter singular
   2. accusative neuter singular
   3. vocative neuter singular

Old French

Alternative forms

• ville

Etymology

From Latin v?lla.

Noun

vile f (oblique plural viles, nominative singular vile, nominative plural viles)

1. town; city

Descendants

• French: ville

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *vidly (Russian ????? (víly), Czech vidle).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?île/
• Hyphenation: vi?le

Noun

v?le f (Cyrillic spelling ?????)

1. (plural only) pitchfork

Declension

References

• “vile” in Hrvatski jezi?ni portal

Slovene

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *vidla.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ì?l?/

Noun

víle f pl

1. pitchfork

Inflection

Further reading

• “vile”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran

Swahili

Pronunciation

Adjective

vile

1. Vi class inflected form and adverbial form of -le.

Venetian

Noun

vile

1. plural of vila