VIL'IFY, verb transitive [from vile.] 1. To make vile; to debase; to degrade. Their Maker's image forsook them, when themselves they vilified to serve ungovern'd appetite. 2. To defame; to traduce; to attempt to degrade by slander. Many passions dispose us to depress and vilify the merit of one rising in the esteem of mankind. [This is the most usual sense of the verb.]
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI