defame

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I'm going to continue deleting comments that are inappropriate and defame, and start banning commenters who spam this site with comments while drunk.

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Definitions (10)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. transitive verb To damage the reputation, character, or good name of by slander or libel. See Synonyms at malign.
  2. transitive verb Archaic To disgrace.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (5)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Examples (50)

  • But I, for the hope of immortality, guarded myself cautiously in all things, so that they could not find me unfaithful, even in the smallest matter, so that unbelievers could not defame or detract from my ministry in the least But when it happened that I baptized so many thousand men, did I expect even half a "screpall" from them? —  The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Most Ancient Lives of Saint Patrick, by Various
  • They could employ torture and deny the inquisition they could lie and defame, and call themse idealists. —  My Disillusionment in Russia
  • According to Shariah, it is impermissible to engage in speech or writings that 'defame' Islam or otherwise offend its followers. —  The Jawa Report
  • EVERY SINGLE post you have made has been to insult, defame, talk down to and attack. —  Alex Jones' Prison Planet.com
  • I'm going to continue deleting comments that are inappropriate and defame, and start banning commenters who spam this site with comments while drunk. —  The Republitarian
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

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Used in the same contextWord Family

defame:   defamed
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English defamen, from Old French defamer, from Medieval Latin dēfāmāre, alteration of Latin diffāmāre, to spread news of, slander : dis-, abroad, apart; see dis- + fāma, rumor, reputation; see bhā-2 in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English defamen, diffamen, from Old French defamer, deffamer, desfamer, diffamer, French diffamer = Provencal Portuguese diffamar = Spanish difamar = Italian diffamare, from Latin diffamare, spread abroad a report., especially an ill report, defame, malign, from dis-privative + fama, a report: see fame. The prefix is thus for L. dis-; but cf. Late Latin defamatus, dishonored, defamis, infamous.
  2. from Middle English defame, also diffame, n., from Old French diffame (also defamie, from Late Latin diffamia), infamy; from the verb.
 

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/dəˈfeɪm/
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