Synonym Chooser

How is the word billingsgate distinct from other similar nouns?

Some common synonyms of billingsgate are abuse, invective, obloquy, and vituperation. While all these words mean "vehemently expressed condemnation or disapproval," billingsgate implies practiced fluency and variety of profane or obscene abuse.

directed a stream of billingsgate at the cabdriver

When is abuse a more appropriate choice than billingsgate?

The synonyms abuse and billingsgate are sometimes interchangeable, but abuse, the most general term, usually implies the anger of the speaker and stresses the harshness of the language.

scathing verbal abuse

In what contexts can invective take the place of billingsgate?

In some situations, the words invective and billingsgate are roughly equivalent. However, invective implies a comparable vehemence but suggests greater verbal and rhetorical skill and may apply to a public denunciation.

blistering political invective

When could obloquy be used to replace billingsgate?

The words obloquy and billingsgate are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, obloquy suggests defamation and consequent shame and disgrace.

subjected to obloquy and derision

Where would vituperation be a reasonable alternative to billingsgate?

While in some cases nearly identical to billingsgate, vituperation implies fluent and sustained abuse.

a torrent of vituperation

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for billingsgate
Noun
  • Franke pleaded guilty to four counts of child abuse four months after her arrest and received the same punishment as Hildebrandt: four consecutive 15-year sentences.
    Emily Blackwood, People.com, 15 Mar. 2025
  • The footage also shows the now obligatory abuse, as the wheeled warrior continuously rights itself as it gets pushed around.
    Paul Ridden, New Atlas, 15 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • The dispute stems from last year’s feud wherein Drake and Lamar traded increasingly personal and unverified insults in a series of songs.
    Alli Rosenbloom, CNN, 18 Mar. 2025
  • Tariffs on Canadian exports and repeated insults by President Donald Trump about Canada becoming the 51st state have Canadians pushing back with a term hockey fans may be familiar with.
    Jalen Williams, USA TODAY, 18 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • Such invective, coming from a saboteur with firsthand experience of institutional prudishness, put DeGenevieve in a paradoxical position: that of a professor who, because she was tenured, had the luxury of deriding her own ivory tower.
    Jeremy Lybarger, Artforum, 1 Feb. 2025
  • Yet some of us in the audience, disgusted by the persistence of Nazism and anti-immigrant invective in the present, may well appreciate the force of McQueen’s rhetoric.
    Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 25 Oct. 2024
Noun
  • The politicization of the COVID response has only worsened this trend, likely resulting in part from Trump’s vituperation.
    Matt Motta, Scientific American, 29 Oct. 2024
  • Flash forward 92-plus years to Donald Trump’s rally Sunday at New York’s Madison Square Garden, a bleak, lurid festival of racist hate and profane vituperation so vile that even fellow Republicans, who have turned a blind eye to Trump’s character for years, are distancing themselves from the event.
    Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 29 Oct. 2024
Noun
  • Then came subsequent criticism about her selection for the 2024 Women’s Olympic team – especially considering Caitlin Clark’s absence – followed by her Las Vegas Aces’ loss in the 2024 WNBA Finals.
    C. Isaiah Smalls II, Miami Herald, 22 Mar. 2025
  • There have been many waves of criticism, pointing out the impossibility of carrying out the test in a precise or useful way.
    Jaron Lanier, The New Yorker, 22 Mar. 2025
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Cite this Entry

“Billingsgate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/billingsgate. Accessed 28 Mar. 2025.

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