SLANDER • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Slander

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/slˈændər/ Listen

noun

Slander n.

A false tale or report maliciously uttered, tending to injure the reputation of another; the malicious utterance of defamatory reports; the dissemination of malicious tales or suggestions to the injury of another. "Whether we speak evil of a man to his face or behind his back; the former way, indeed, seems to be the most generous, but yet is a great fault, and that which we call "reviling;" the latter is more mean and base, and that which we properly call "slander", or "Backbiting."" "(We) make the careful magistrate The mark of slander."

Disgrace; reproach; dishonor; opprobrium. "Thou slander of thy mother's heavy womb."

(Law) Formerly, defamation generally, whether oral or written; in modern usage, defamation by words spoken; utterance of false, malicious, and defamatory words, tending to the damage and derogation of another; calumny. See the Note under Defamation.

verb

Slander v. t. (past & past part. slandered; pres. part. slandering)

To defame; to injure by maliciously uttering a false report; to tarnish or impair the reputation of by false tales maliciously told or propagated; to calumniate. "O, do not slander him, for he is kind."

To bring discredit or shame upon by one's acts. "Tax not so bad a voice To slander music any more than once."

Synonyms: To asperse; defame; calumniate; vilify; malign; belie; scandalize; reproach. See Asperse.

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Etymology of 'Slander'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Slander" Quotes from Famous Books

... how, in all probability, he would be accused of showing the white feather. Under ordinary circumstances he would have been very indifferent to what was said of him: he could well afford to allow idle tongues to prattle forth slander about him till weary of the occupation, but he could not bear to fancy that Mrs Edmonstone, or rather her friend, should hear anything to his disadvantage which he might not be present to refute; ...

— Ronald Morton, or the Fire Ships - A Story of the Last Naval War • W.H.G. Kingston

... to answer you!" said the prince. "Out of respect to myself I will, for such is the unsullied honor of Robert Bruce, that even the air shall not be tainted with slander against his truth, without being repurified by its confutation. Gaveston, you have known me five years; two of them we passed together in the jousts of Flanders, and yet you believe me capable of ...

— The Scottish Chiefs • Miss Jane Porter

... an act which was likely to produce considerable innovations in the government. They premised, that, whereas the Great Charter had, to the manifest peril and slander of the king and damage of his people, been violated in many points, particularly by the imprisonment of freemen and the seizure of their goods, without suit, indictment, or trial, it was necessary to confirm ...

— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.I., Part B. - From Henry III. to Richard III. • David Hume

... "slanderer," from [Greek: diaballein], to slander), the generic name for a spirit of evil, especially the supreme spirit of evil, the foe of God and man. The word is used for minor evil spirits in much the same sense as "demon." From the various characteristics associated with this idea, the term has come to be applied ...

— Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 3 - "Destructors" to "Diameter" • Various

... let your life be ruined. He wants you for the adornment of his palace. So when pain comes—the pain of sorrow, of bereavement, of temporal loss, of being reproached and having your name cast out as evil, of being wounded by the tongue of slander—in whatever form pain comes to you, hold still; bear it patiently; it will work out in your life ...

— Heart Talks • Charles Wesley Naylor

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