ribald
/ˈɹɪb.əld/US/ˈɹɪb.əld/
ribald adjective: coarsely, vulgarly, or lewdly amusing; referring to sexual matters in a rude or irreverent way.
Adjective
ribald (comparative ribalder or more ribald, superlative ribaldest or most ribald)
- Coarsely, vulgarly, or lewdly amusing; referring to sexual matters in a rude or irreverent way.
- [L]et no zealous Christian trust the rogue,—the filthy ribald rascal is a liar.1693, “Chapter XXVII”, in Thomas Urquhart, Peter Anthony Motteux, transl., Gargantua and Pantagruel, The Third Book, translation of Gargantua et Pantagruel by François Rabelais
- But when he died the "Reform Democracy" instinctively returned to its vomit of ribald insult.1875 May 15, anonymous author, “Mr. Carl Schurz and the Democratic Party”, in Harper's Weekly
Noun
ribald (plural ribalds)
- A person who is filthy or vulgar in nature.
- After, he made an harlot, a ribald, come to him alone for to touch his members and his body, to move to lechery.1483 [1900 edition], William Caxton (Trans.), Jacobus de Voragine, "Life of S. Paul the first Hermit", The Golden Legend
ribald meaning in Urdu, Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada
ribald in Urdu
- فاحش, کمینہ, رذیل
ribald in Bengali
- অশ্লীল
ribald in Malayalam
- crude, rude, vulgar
- പ്രാകൃതമായ, വൃത്തികെട്ട, അസഭ്യമായ, അശ്ലീല, ആഭാസ, സഭ്യമല്ലാത്ത
ribald in Kannada
- ಹೊಲಸುಮಾತಿನ, ಅಸಭ್ಯ, ಅಶ್ಲೀಲ, ಹೊಲಸು ಮಾತಿನ, ಭಂಡ, ಪುಂಡ
More languagesFewer languages
- ribald in Thai
- พูดสามหาว phūt sāmhāw
Examples of ribald in a sentence
- [T]he curious crowd had collected in the street […], with here and there a scoffer uttering his incredulity and courage with scornful remarks or ribald cries.1888, Ambrose Pierce, “A Fruitless Assignment”, in The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, published 1893:
- Oslin comes off both more ribald ("Younger Men") and prouder of the bras and bridges she used to burn ("'8s Ladies") in her best country hits.1997, Chuck Eddy, The Accidental Evolution of Rock 'n' roll: A Misguided Tour Through Popular Music, page 22:
- Baron Cohen turns his attentions back towards England, satirising the Establishment’s contempt for what Nobby himself proudly calls “scum” with ribald and corrosive glee.2016 February 23, Robbie Collin, “Grimsby review: ' Sacha Baron Cohen's vital, venomous action movie'”, in The Daily Telegraph, London:
- The “South Park” social media account responded, “Wait, so we ARE relevant?” and added a ribald hashtag.2025 August 7, Derrick Bryson Taylor, “‘South Park’ Finds New Relevance Skewering the Trump Era”, in The New York Times:
Forms of ribald
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | ribalder |
| comparative | more ribald |
| superlative | ribaldest |
| superlative | most ribald |
| alternative form | ribauld |
| Noun | |
| plural | ribalds |
Origin of ribald
From Middle English ribald, from Old French ribaud, ribauld (“rogue, scoundrel”) ( > English ribaud), from Old French riber (“to be licentious”), from Frankish *rīban (“to copulate, be in heat”, literally “to rub”), from Proto-Germanic *wrībaną (“to turn, twist, writhe”), from Proto-Indo-European *werp-, *werb- (“to turn, twist”) + Old French -aud, from Frankish *-wald. Related to Old High German rīban (“to rub”), German reiben (“to rub”), Dutch wrijven (“to rub”). Compare also Old High German hrība (“prostitute”). See also English wrap.
Words formed from ribald
Questions about ribald
- What does ribald mean?
- Ribald means coarsely, vulgarly, or lewdly amusing; referring to sexual matters in a rude or irreverent way.
- What is ribald in Urdu?
- Ribald in Urdu is فاحش, کمینہ, رذیل. See Ribald meaning in Urdu.
- How do you use ribald in a sentence?
- [T]he curious crowd had collected in the street […], with here and there a scoffer uttering his incredulity and courage with scornful remarks or ribald cries.
- What part of speech is ribald?
- Ribald can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce ribald?
- Ribald is pronounced /ˈɹɪb.əld/ (UK).
Words near ribald in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ribald (page history and authors); ribald (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ribald (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ribald (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); ribald (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-ribald.wav.
Cite this entry: “ribald.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ribald. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.