vulg-

(Latin: common people, multitude, common)

This may be one of the most contradictory words around because the term "common people" has a considerably different application in these modern times than it did in Roman times and down through the centuries of upper-class and royal societies.

For a long time, "common people" were crude, coarse, uneducated, etc.; while those who were in the "upper classes" were polite, educated (sometimes), and superior to the "riff-raff or disreputable, common, or undesirable people".

ad captandum vulgus (Latin phrase)
To please the common people.

To please or to win the favor of the masses or the crowd.

The implication is that such actions may not be in the best interest of society, but are intended only to achieve popularity or political goals, such as winning an elective office, publicizing movies, novels, sports, TV programs, or any promotion that wants the masses to be involved for their support.

divulgate (verb), divulgates; divulgated; divulgating
To make publicly known; to publish: Jerry was divulgating secret information to a news reporter about how the pharmaceutical company overcharged consumers for its medical products.
To reveal or to disclose information.
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divulgatory (adjective), more divulgatory, most divulgatory
divulge (di VULJ) (verb), divulges; divulged; divulging
1. To reveal information; especially, information that was previously secret, private, or unknown: The former intelligence agent divulged many national secrets to the enemies of his country.
2. Making a confidence or a secret known to others: On television, Morris was divulging how a politician was being paid significant amounts of money to vote for policies that would make it possible for a business to avoid paying taxes for products sold to another country.
3. Etymology: from Latin divulgare, "to publish, to make common, to spread among people"; from dis-, "apart" + vulgare, "to make common property"; from vulgus, "common people".
To make something private known to the public.
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To reveal or to disclose information.
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Go to this Word A Day Revisited Index
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divulged (adjective), more divulged, most divulged
A reference to information that was made known to the public which was previously known only to a few people or that was meant to be kept a secret.
divulgement (s) (noun), divulgements (pl)
divulgence (s) (noun), divulgences (pl)
The act of disclosing something that was secret or private.
divulger (s) (noun), divulgers (pl)
Someone who reveals information which was previously unknown or secret.
editio vulgata
Common edition.
lingua vulgaris
Speech by the common people; popular language; Vulgar Latin as opposed to Classical Latin or the language of the more highly educated.
mob (mobile vulgus)
1. A large and unruly crowd of people.
2. Ordinary people; especially, when thought of collectively as unintelligent or irrational.
3. To crowd around someone or something noisily and excitedly.
4. To crowd into and to fill a place.
5. An indiscriminate or loosely associated group of people or things; for example, a mob of boats that are in the harbor.
6. To crowd around and to jostle or to annoy someone; especially, in anger or excessive enthusiasm: "The eager fans mobbed the popular singers."
mobile vulgus
Movable public; the unstable, fickle crowd.

The mob, the fickle or excited crowd; a phrase that recognizes the inconstancy of popular taste and the ease with which clever politicians can influence the great mass of voters.

The English word mob is a contraction of this Latin phrase.

pemphigus vulgaris
The most common form of pemphigus.

This is a group of important skin conditions and their principal feature is the formation of multiple large blisters in the skin and mouth that burst easily.

The conditions are rare; slightly more women are affected than men. They constitute a dermatological emergency and patients will need hospital treatment.

It is believed that the cause is auto immune; that is, the bodies own defense mechanism wrongly attacks these tissues and creates the illness; apparently because the immune system mistakenly regards the cells in the skin and mucous membranes as foreign cells and attacks them.

Patients require expert care and are at risk of body chemistry disturbances and infection as the blisters easily burst and leave open wounds and the lesions have little tendency to heal.

Currently the primary treatment is to suppress the body's own immune system using powerful drugs.

pervulgate (verb), pervulgates; pervulgated; pervulgating
To publish something.
pervulgation (s) (noun), pervulgations (pl)