Meaning & Definition of Vulgar in English

1. Lacking refinement or cultivation or taste

• "He had coarse manners but a first-rate mind"

• "Behavior that branded him as common"

• "An untutored and uncouth human being"

• "An uncouth soldier--a real tough guy"

• "Appealing to the vulgar taste for violence"

• "The vulgar display of the newly rich"

2. Of or associated with the great masses of people

• "The common people in those days suffered greatly"

• "Behavior that branded him as common"

• "His square plebeian nose"

• "A vulgar and objectionable person"

• "The unwashed masses"

3. Being or characteristic of or appropriate to everyday language

• "Common parlance"

• "A vernacular term"

• "Vernacular speakers"

• "The vulgar tongue of the masses"

• "The technical and vulgar names for an animal species"

4. Conspicuously and tastelessly indecent

• "Coarse language"

• "A crude joke"

• "Crude behavior"

• "An earthy sense of humor"

• "A revoltingly gross expletive"

• "A vulgar gesture"

• "Full of language so vulgar it should have been edited"