slander
a false and hurtful statement about someone
TRANSLATION
slander = die Verleumdung slander (verb) = verleumden --- GOOGLE INDEX slander: approximately 4,000,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
An outburst in an autograph shop costs pop star Victoria Beckham £55,000 in SLANDER damages plus legal fees.
(BBC News)
---
It's the same old story
Everywhere I go,
I get SLANDERED,
Libeled,
I hear words I never heard
In the Bible
(from the Simon and Garfunkel song "Keep The Customer Satisfied")
(BBC News)
---
It's the same old story
Everywhere I go,
I get SLANDERED,
Libeled,
I hear words I never heard
In the Bible
(from the Simon and Garfunkel song "Keep The Customer Satisfied")
Did you
know?
slander
noun
- a false and malicious statement or report about someone
verb
- to utter or spread slander
(The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
---
WORD ORIGIN
Slander stems from the Anglo-French esclaundre and Old French esclandre, meaning "scandalous statement." It is an alteration of escandle, meaning scandal, which derives from the Latin scandalum, "cause of offence, stumbling block, temptation."
Slander is frequently used together with the term "libel," particularly in the legal profession as slander and libel are both offences that can be brought before a civil court. Libel concerns the written word and material broadcast on television or radio. Slander concerns the spoken word.
The famous tenor Enrico Caruso took his ex-lover to court for slander in 1912 for instance. She was charged with "calumny and defamation of character" (calumny and defamation are synonyms for slander) for falsely accusing the great tenor of stealing and reading a letter from the American composer Oscar Hammerstein. She claims Caruso intercepted the letter as revenge for the fact that she no longer was in love with him.
The trial turned into an entertaining soap opera. As the New York times reported: "Caruso wept impressively while his three lawyers explained to the court the heartbreak and suffering he had undergone through this unhappy love affair and the revenge that followed."
---
SYNONYMS
aspersion, backbiting, backstabbing, belittlement, black eye, calumny, defamation, depreciation, detraction, dirt, dirty linen, disparagement, hit, libel, lie, misrepresentation, muckraking, mud, mud-slinging, obloquy, rap, scandal, slam, slime, smear, tale
ANTONYMS
praise, compliment, nicety, flattery, kudos, pat on the back, accolade
---
SMUGGLE OWAD INTO TODAY'S CONVERSATION:
"It can be difficult to determine the difference between criticism and slander."
noun
- a false and malicious statement or report about someone
verb
- to utter or spread slander
(The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
---
WORD ORIGIN
Slander stems from the Anglo-French esclaundre and Old French esclandre, meaning "scandalous statement." It is an alteration of escandle, meaning scandal, which derives from the Latin scandalum, "cause of offence, stumbling block, temptation."
Slander is frequently used together with the term "libel," particularly in the legal profession as slander and libel are both offences that can be brought before a civil court. Libel concerns the written word and material broadcast on television or radio. Slander concerns the spoken word.
The famous tenor Enrico Caruso took his ex-lover to court for slander in 1912 for instance. She was charged with "calumny and defamation of character" (calumny and defamation are synonyms for slander) for falsely accusing the great tenor of stealing and reading a letter from the American composer Oscar Hammerstein. She claims Caruso intercepted the letter as revenge for the fact that she no longer was in love with him.
The trial turned into an entertaining soap opera. As the New York times reported: "Caruso wept impressively while his three lawyers explained to the court the heartbreak and suffering he had undergone through this unhappy love affair and the revenge that followed."
---
SYNONYMS
aspersion, backbiting, backstabbing, belittlement, black eye, calumny, defamation, depreciation, detraction, dirt, dirty linen, disparagement, hit, libel, lie, misrepresentation, muckraking, mud, mud-slinging, obloquy, rap, scandal, slam, slime, smear, tale
ANTONYMS
praise, compliment, nicety, flattery, kudos, pat on the back, accolade
---
SMUGGLE OWAD INTO TODAY'S CONVERSATION:
"It can be difficult to determine the difference between criticism and slander."
