Vile means extremely unpleasant, disgusting, or morally bad. When something is vile, it makes you want to recoil or turn away.

The word can describe physical things that revolt your senses: a vile smell from spoiled food in the back of the refrigerator, or the vile taste of medicine that makes you shudder. You might call a dirty, bug-infested bathroom vile, or describe the texture of something slimy and rotten as vile.

But vile also describes behavior that's morally repulsive. A vile person treats others with shocking cruelty or meanness. When a character in a story commits a vile act, like betraying a friend who trusted them completely, readers feel genuine disgust. The word suggests something worse than merely bad or unpleasant: it carries a sense of something truly offensive or contemptible.

Vile is a strong word. You wouldn't use it for homework you dislike or a food you simply don't prefer. Save it for things that genuinely revolt you, whether they assault your senses or your sense of right and wrong. When Roald Dahl wanted readers to understand just how horrible the Trunchbull was in Matilda, he described her vile treatment of children.