DEFAME • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Defame

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/dɪfˈeɪm/ Listen

verb

Defame v. t. (past & past part. defamed; pres. part. defaming)

To harm or destroy the good fame or reputation of; to disgrace; especially, to speak evil of maliciously; to dishonor by slanderous reports; to calumniate; to asperse.

To render infamous; to bring into disrepute. "My guilt thy growing virtues did defame; My blackness blotted thy unblemish'd name."

To charge; to accuse. (R.) "Rebecca is... defamed of sorcery practiced on the person of a noble knight."

Synonyms: To asperse; slander; calumniate; vilify. See Asperse.

noun

Defame n. Dishonor. (Obs.)

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Etymology of 'Defame'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Defame" Quotes from Famous Books

... Mademoiselle had more reason to look sharp after those who enjoyed the greatest share of her favour, than believe their malicious insinuations against innocent people whom they were well known to hate and defame. ...

— The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom, Complete • Tobias Smollett

... to reconcile the people to this great innovation, stories were propagated of the detestable lives of the friars in many of the convents; and great care was taken to defame those whom the court had determined to ruin. The relics also and other superstitions, which had so long been the object of the people's veneration, were exposed to their ridicule; and the religious spirit, now less bent on exterior observances and sensible objects, was ...

— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.I., Part C. - From Henry VII. to Mary • David Hume

... not, however, merely to vindicate the reputation of those whom writers like these defame, which would but be to anticipate by a few years the natural and inevitable reaction of the public mind, that I am devoting years of labor to the development of the principles on which the great productions of recent art are based. ...

— Modern Painters Volume I (of V) • John Ruskin

... divine, Pardon a muse so mean as mine, Who in her rough imperfect line Thus dares to name thee. To stigmatise false friends of thine Can ne'er defame thee.' ...

— Robert Burns - Famous Scots Series • Gabriel Setoun

... human family. That is its mission. It will never be overcome, or left to other people. "No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing," said the Prophet Joseph, "persecution may rage; mobs may combine; armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independently till it has penetrated every continent; visited every clime, swept every country; and sounded in every ear; till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah ...

— A Young Folks' History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints • Nephi Anderson

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