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asperse

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asperse

 

  3  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Asperse  \As*perse"\,  v.  t.  [imp.  &  p.  p.  {Aspersed};  p.  pr  & 
  vb  n.  {Aspersing}.]  [L.  aspersus  p.  p.  of  aspergere  to 
  scatter,  sprinkle;  ad  +  spargere  to  strew.  See  {Sparse}.] 
  1.  To  sprinkle,  as  water  or  dust,  upon  anybody  or  anything 
  or  to  besprinkle  any  one  with  a  liquid  or  with  dust. 
  --Heywood. 
 
  2.  To  bespatter  with  foul  reports  or  false  and  injurious 
  charges;  to  tarnish  in  point  of  reputation  or  good  name 
  to  slander  or  calumniate;  as  to  asperse  a  poet  or  his 
  writings;  to  asperse  a  man's  character. 
 
  With  blackest  crimes  aspersed.  --Cowper. 
 
  Syn:  To  slander;  defame;  detract  from  calumniate;  vilify. 
 
  Usage:  To  {Asperse},  {Defame},  {Slander},  {Calumniate}.  These 
  words  have  in  common  the  idea  of  falsely  assailing  the 
  character  of  another.  To  asperse  is  figuratively  to 
  cast  upon  a  character  hitherto  unsullied  the 
  imputation  of  blemishes  or  faults  which  render  it 
  offensive  or  loathsome.  To  defame  is  to  detract  from  a 
  man's  honor  and  reputation  by  charges  calculated  to 
  load  him  with  infamy.  Slander  (etymologically  the  same 
  as  scandal)  and  calumniate,  from  the  Latin,  have  in 
  common  the  sense  of  circulating  reports  to  a  man's 
  injury  from  unworthy  or  malicious  motives.  Men  asperse 
  their  neighbors  by  malignant  insinuations;  they  defame 
  by  advancing  charges  to  blacken  or  sully  their  fair 
  fame;  they  slander  or  calumniate  by  spreading 
  injurious  reports  which  are  false,  or  by  magnifying 
  slight  faults  into  serious  errors  or  crimes. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  asperse 
  v  :  charge  falsely  or  with  malicious  intent;  attack  the  good 
  name  and  reputation  of  someone  "The  journalists  have 
  defamed  me!"  The  article  in  the  paper  sullied  my 
  reputation"  [syn:  {defame},  {slander},  {smirch},  {denigrate}, 
  {calumniate},  {smear},  {sully},  {besmirch}] 
 
  From  THE  DEVIL'S  DICTIONARY  ((C)1911  Released  April  15  1993)  [devils]: 
 
  ASPERSE,  v.t.  Maliciously  to  ascribe  to  another  vicious  actions  which 
  one  has  not  had  the  temptation  and  opportunity  to  commit.




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