vehement

See also: véhément

English

WOTD – 7 December 2016

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French vehement (modern French véhément; compare Italian veemente, Portuguese veemente, Spanish vehemente); or from Latin vehemēns (“vehement; very eager; ardent, furious, impetuous; emphatic”), probably from vē- (“lacking, too little”) + mēns (“mind; intellect; judgment, reasoning”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈviː.ə.mənt/, /ˈvɪə̯.mənt/, /ˈviː.hə.mənt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈviː.hə.mənt/, /ˈviː.ə.mənt/

• Audio (Received Pronunciation):

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• Audio (General American):

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• Audio (General American):

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• Audio (Australia):

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• Hyphenation: ve‧he‧ment

Adjective

vehement (comparative more vehement, superlative most vehement)

1. Showing strong feelings; passionate; forceful or intense.

   The man made a vehement display of contempt.

   • 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That Which is to Come: Delivered under the Similitude of a Dream wherein is Discovered, the Manner of His Setting Out, His Dangerous Journey; and Safe Arrival at the Desired Countrey, London: Printed for Nath[aniel] Ponder at the Peacock in the Poultrey near Cornhill, →OCLC, page 79:

     Yet the Fiends ſeemed to come nearer and nearer, but when they were come even almoſt at him, he cried out with a moſt vehement voice, I will walk in the ſtrength of the Lord God; ſo they gave back, and came no further.

   • 2006, Scott [Bechtel] Smith, The Ruins: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN, page 236:

     Amy shook her head, vehement. "The vine didn't kill them. The Mayans did. They tried to flee and the Mayans shot them. The vine just claimed their bodies once they'd been shot. There's no thought involved in that. No—"

   • 2025 July 28, Steve Contorno, quoting Paul Dans, “Project 2025 architect Paul Dans to challenge Lindsey Graham for Senate in South Carolina”, in CNN‎^[1], Atlanta, Ga.: Warner Bros. Discovery, archived from the original on 11 October 2026:

     “He’s a 70-year-old childless warmonger and he has no stake in the future of this country,” Dans said. “He is the very reason that MAGA started in the first place, and we only have to look at 2016 when he was a vehement Trump hater. A leopard doesn’t change its spots.”

Synonyms

• full-throated
• swith (obsolete or dialectal)

Derived terms

• overvehement
• unvehement
• vehemently
• vehementness

Related terms

• vehemence

Translations

showing strong feelings; passionate; forceful or intense

• Armenian: բուռն (hy) (buṙn), կատաղի (hy) (kataġi)
• Bulgarian: страстен (bg) (strasten), бурен (bg) (buren)
• Catalan: vehement (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 激越 (zh) (jīyuè), 激切 (zh) (jīqiè), 激烈 (zh) (jīliè)

• Danish: heftig, kraftig (da)
• Dutch: fel (nl), heftig (nl), hartstochtelijk (nl)
• Finnish: kiivas (fi), kiihkeä (fi), raju (fi)
• French: véhément (fr)
• Galician: vehemente (gl)
• Georgian: მძლავრი (mʒlavri), მხურვალე (mxurvale), ინტენსიური (inṭensiuri), ცხოველი (ka) (cxoveli)
• German: vehement (de), heftig (de)
• Greek: σφοδρός (el) (sfodrós)

  Ancient Greek: σφοδρός (sphodrós)

• Hungarian: vehemens (hu)
• Icelandic: ákafur m
• Irish:

  Old Irish: cathach

• Japanese: 激しい (ja) (はげしい, hageshii), 激烈 (ja) (げきれつ, gekiretsu), 猛烈 (ja) (もうれつ, mōretsu)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: خوێن گەرم (xwên germ)

• Latin: flagrāns, igneus (la), vehemēns
• Portuguese: veemente (pt)
• Russian: рья́ный (ru) (rʹjányj), неи́стовый (ru) (neístovyj)
• Spanish: vehemente (es)
• Swedish: häftig (sv)
• Turkish: ateşli (tr), hararetli (tr), şiddetli (tr)

Further reading

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “vehement”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “vehement”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “vehement”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Catalan

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin vehementem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern) [bə.əˈme̞n]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [və.əˈment]
• IPA^(key): (Central) [bə.əˈmen]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ve.eˈment]
• IPA^(key): (Northwestern) [be.eˈmen]

Adjective

vehement m or f (masculine and feminine plural vehements)

1. vehement

Derived terms

• vehementment

Related terms

• vehemència

Further reading

• “vehement”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

German

Etymology

Ca. 1700, from Latin vehemens, vehementis, in part through French véhément.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (careful) /ˌveːheˈmɛnt/, (usual) /ˌveːəˈmɛnt/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Adjective

vehement (strong nominative masculine singular vehementer, comparative vehementer, superlative am vehementesten)

1. vehement

   Synonyms: nachdrücklich, heftig, scharf, leidenschaftlich

Declension

Positive forms of vehement number & gender singular plural masculine feminine neuter predicative er ist vehement sie ist vehement es ist vehement sie sind vehement strong declension (without article) nominative vehementer vehemente vehementes vehemente genitive vehementen vehementer vehementen vehementer dative vehementem vehementer vehementem vehementen accusative vehementen vehemente vehementes vehemente weak declension (with definite article) nominative der vehemente die vehemente das vehemente die vehementen genitive des vehementen der vehementen des vehementen der vehementen dative dem vehementen der vehementen dem vehementen den vehementen accusative den vehementen die vehemente das vehemente die vehementen mixed declension (with indefinite article) nominative ein vehementer eine vehemente ein vehementes (keine) vehementen genitive eines vehementen einer vehementen eines vehementen (keiner) vehementen dative einem vehementen einer vehementen einem vehementen (keinen) vehementen accusative einen vehementen eine vehemente ein vehementes (keine) vehementen Comparative forms of vehement number & gender singular plural masculine feminine neuter predicative er ist vehementer sie ist vehementer es ist vehementer sie sind vehementer strong declension (without article) nominative vehementerer vehementere vehementeres vehementere genitive vehementeren vehementerer vehementeren vehementerer dative vehementerem vehementerer vehementerem vehementeren accusative vehementeren vehementere vehementeres vehementere weak declension (with definite article) nominative der vehementere die vehementere das vehementere die vehementeren genitive des vehementeren der vehementeren des vehementeren der vehementeren dative dem vehementeren der vehementeren dem vehementeren den vehementeren accusative den vehementeren die vehementere das vehementere die vehementeren mixed declension (with indefinite article) nominative ein vehementerer eine vehementere ein vehementeres (keine) vehementeren genitive eines vehementeren einer vehementeren eines vehementeren (keiner) vehementeren dative einem vehementeren einer vehementeren einem vehementeren (keinen) vehementeren accusative einen vehementeren eine vehementere ein vehementeres (keine) vehementeren Superlative forms of vehement number & gender singular plural masculine feminine neuter predicative er ist am vehementesten sie ist am vehementesten es ist am vehementesten sie sind am vehementesten strong declension (without article) nominative vehementester vehementeste vehementestes vehementeste genitive vehementesten vehementester vehementesten vehementester dative vehementestem vehementester vehementestem vehementesten accusative vehementesten vehementeste vehementestes vehementeste weak declension (with definite article) nominative der vehementeste die vehementeste das vehementeste die vehementesten genitive des vehementesten der vehementesten des vehementesten der vehementesten dative dem vehementesten der vehementesten dem vehementesten den vehementesten accusative den vehementesten die vehementeste das vehementeste die vehementesten mixed declension (with indefinite article) nominative ein vehementester eine vehementeste ein vehementestes (keine) vehementesten genitive eines vehementesten einer vehementesten eines vehementesten (keiner) vehementesten dative einem vehementesten einer vehementesten einem vehementesten (keinen) vehementesten accusative einen vehementesten eine vehementeste ein vehementestes (keine) vehementesten

Related terms

• Vehemenz

Further reading

• “vehement” in Duden online
• “vehement”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[2] (in German)

Romanian

Etymology

Etymology tree

Latin vehementemlbor.

French véhémentbor.

Romanian vehement

Borrowed from French véhément, a learned borrowing from Latin vehementem.

Adjective

vehement m or n (feminine singular vehementă, masculine plural vehemenți, feminine/neuter plural vehemente)

1. vehement

Declension

Declension of vehement

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	vehement		vehementă	vehemenți	vehemente
	definite	vehementul		vehementa	vehemenții	vehementele
genitive- dative	indefinite	vehement		vehemente	vehemenți	vehemente
	definite	vehementului		vehementei	vehemenților	vehementelor