slanderous
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of slanderous
First recorded in 1400–50; see slander ( def. ), -ous ( def. )
Explanation
If you deliberately lie about someone in order to harm them, your statement is slanderous. If you know your brother was home all day, it's slanderous to claim you saw him stealing candy at the supermarket. When you say something you know is untrue about another person, that's slander—and saying it is slanderous. It's slanderous to spread malicious rumors about a business because you're mad at its owner, or to tell a lie about your opponent in the student council election to boost your chances of winning. In some cases, making slanderous statements is considered a crime.
Vocabulary lists containing slanderous
Flush
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The Taming of the Shrew
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The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Fellini called in his attorneys about the matter and offered a one-line review of his producer's charges: "Slanderous, untruthful and offensive."
From Time Magazine Archive
Slanderous gossip advances like a prairie-fire, laying everything waste, and defying all attempts to stop or extinguish it.
From The Life and Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Volume II (of 2) by Marshall, Florence A. Thomas
Slanderous reproaches, and foul infamies, Leasings, backbitings, and vainglorious crakes, Bad counsels, praises, and false flatteries; All those against that fort did bend their batteries.
From Handy Dictionary of Poetical Quotations by Various
Without crime or offence of any kind, Slanderous mouths are loud against me.
From The Shih King From the Sacred Books of the East Volume 3 by Legge, James
Slanderous tongues, Voltairians—who is sheltered from the stings of that race of vipers?—slanderous tongues affirmed that beneath this Rabelaisian exterior, he was profoundly vicious, artful, and hypocritical.
From The Grip of Desire by France, Hector
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
