Slander

Slander
Slander Slan"der, n. [OE. sclandere, OF. esclandre, esclandle, escandre, F. esclandre, fr. L. scandalum, Gr. ??? a snare, stumbling block, offense, scandal; probably originally, the spring of a trap, and akin to Skr. skand to spring, leap. See {Scan}, and cf. {Scandal}.] 1. 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. [1913 Webster]

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.'' --Tillotson. [1913 Webster]

[We] make the careful magistrate The mark of slander. --B. Jonson. [1913 Webster]

2. Disgrace; reproach; dishonor; opprobrium. [1913 Webster]

Thou slander of thy mother's heavy womb. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

3. (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}. --Burril. [1913 Webster]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.

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  • slander — slan·der 1 / slan dər/ vt: to utter slander against slan·der·er n slander 2 n [Anglo French esclandre, from Old French escandle esclandre scandal, from Late Latin scandalum moral stumbling block, disgrace, from Greek skandalon, literally, snare,… …   Law dictionary

  • Slander — • The attributing to another of a fault of which one knows him to be innocent Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Slander     Slander      …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Slander — Slan der, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Slandered}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Slandering}.] 1. 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. [1913… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • slander — n calumny, *detraction, backbiting, scandal Analogous words: defamation, vilification, aspersion, traducing (see corresponding verbs at MALIGN): *abuse, vituperation, invective, obloquy, scurrility slander vb defame, libel, calumniate, *malign,… …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • slander — [n] scandalous remark aspersion, backbiting*, backstabbing*, belittlement, black eye*, calumny, defamation, depreciation, detraction, dirt*, dirty linen*, disparagement, hit*, libel, lie, misrepresentation, muckraking, mud*, mud slinging*,… …   New thesaurus

  • slander — [slan′dər] n. [ME sclaunder < Anglo Fr esclaundre (OFr esclandre, escandle) < LL(Ec) scandalum: see SCANDAL] 1. the utterance in the presence of another person of a false statement or statements, damaging to a third person s character or… …   English World dictionary

  • slander — ► NOUN Law 1) the action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person s reputation. Compare with LIBEL(Cf. ↑libelous). 2) a false and malicious spoken statement. ► VERB ▪ make such statements about. DERIVATIVES slanderer …   English terms dictionary

  • SLANDER — The only instance of defamation in biblical law for which a penalty is prescribed is that of the virgin (Deut. 22:19) – and that defamation is in the nature of a matrimonial stratagem (cf. Deut. 22:16–17) rather than of a specifically defamatory… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • slander — ▪ I. slander slan‧der 1 [ˈslɑːndə ǁ ˈslændər] noun [countable, uncountable] LAW a spoken statement about someone that is not true and is intended to damage the good opinion that people have of him or her, or the legal offence of making a… …   Financial and business terms

  • slander — noun ADJECTIVE ▪ gross (BrE), malicious, vicious, vile VERB + SLANDER ▪ be guilty of ▪ sue sb for …   Collocations dictionary

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