slur
Americanverb (used with object)
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slurs,
present (3rd person singular)
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slurred,
past participle, past
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slurring
present participle
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to pass over lightly or without due mention or consideration (often followed byover ).
The report slurred over her contribution to the enterprise.
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to pronounce (a syllable, word, etc.) indistinctly by combining, reducing, or omitting sounds, as in hurried or careless utterance.
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to cast aspersions on; calumniate; disparage; depreciate.
The candidate was viciously slurred by his opponent.
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Music.
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to sing to a single syllable or play without a break (two or more tones of different pitch).
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to mark with a slur.
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Chiefly British Dialect. to smirch, sully, or stain.
verb (used without object)
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slurs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
slurred,
past participle, past
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slurring
present participle
noun
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slurs
plural
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a slurred utterance or sound.
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a disparaging remark or a slight: an ethnic slur against people of Irish descent.
quick to take offense at a slur;
an ethnic slur against people of Irish descent.
- Antonyms:
- compliment
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a blot or stain, as upon reputation.
a slur on his good name.
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Music.
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the combination of two or more tones of different pitch, sung to a single syllable or played without a break.
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a curved mark indicating this.
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Printing. a spot that is blurred or unclear as a result of paper, plate, or blanket slippage.
verb
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(often foll by over) to treat superficially, hastily, or without due deliberation; gloss
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(also intr) to pronounce or utter (words, etc) indistinctly
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to speak disparagingly of or cast aspersions on
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music to execute (a melodic interval of two or more notes) smoothly, as in legato performance
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(also intr) to blur or smear
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archaic to stain or smear; sully
noun
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an indistinct sound or utterance
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a slighting remark; aspersion
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a stain or disgrace, as upon one's reputation; stigma
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music
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a performance or execution of a melodic interval of two or more notes in a part
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the curved line ( or ) indicating this
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a blur or smear
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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slursimple
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slurssimple
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have slurredperfect
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has slurredperfect
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am slurringprogressive
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are slurringprogressive
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is slurringprogressive
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have been slurringperfect progressive
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has been slurringperfect progressive
Past
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slurredsimple
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had slurredperfect
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was slurringprogressive
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were slurringprogressive
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had been slurringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of slur
First recorded in 1595–1605; of multiple origins; in the sense “pass over without due consideration,” compare Low German slurren “to shuffle,” Dutch sleuren “to trail, drag”; in the sense “blot or stain,” compare Middle Dutch slore ( Dutch sloor ) “sluttish woman”
Explanation
A slur is an insulting remark. In a political campaign, it’s not unheard of for a candidate to launch a slur at her opponent, though doing so is usually frowned upon. Slur can also be used as a verb meaning “to insult,” and it has a number of additional meanings as well. To slur one’s speech is to pronounce words in a clumsy, lazy way. In the context of music, to slur is to slide smoothly from one note to another. The word history of slur is hazy, but some scholars have suggested a relationship with a Dutch word meaning "to drag."
Vocabulary lists containing slur
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Dear Martin
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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.
See Examples For:
The BBC later apologised for not editing out the slur from its BBC One broadcast, which was shown on a two-hour delay, and remained on BBC iPlayer until the following day.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
Once a slur that implied homosexuality was shamefully deviant, “queer” was “reclaimed” in the 1980s by gay activists as a synonym for “gay.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 2, 2026
That this didn’t happen has sparked a back-and-forth about culpability, with Deadline reporting BAFTA’s assurance that it made the BBC and the broadcast’s producers aware that the slur was audible shortly after Davidson blurted it.
From Salon ● Mar. 1, 2026
The slur was involuntarily blurted by John Davidson, whose life experience dealing with Tourette syndrome inspired the film “I Swear.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 25, 2026
Dashes equal rests, and the slur underneath two notes is equal to two eighth notes.
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
While free speech is an important principle, it doesn’t shield people from consequences—especially when their past actions include repeated antisemitic slurs that have caused real harm.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 21, 2026
The recording does not capture audio of the alleged slurs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 17, 2026
Ceremony host Alan Cumming described the night as "trauma triggering", adding: "We were all let down by decisions made to both broadcast slurs and censor free speech."
From BBC ● Mar. 6, 2026
Tourette’s is misunderstood, and coprolalia, a symptom of the condition that leads to involuntary swearing, slurs, or other socially unacceptable words or phrases, is even more so.
From Salon ● Mar. 1, 2026
People walk right across the middle of Fifth Avenue in traffic, and the cars honk and the people shout and the rain slurs up all the noise.
From Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff
He skipped over and slurred words as he tried to maintain an artificially quick tempo.
From Slate ● Feb. 24, 2026
David had a tumor on his cheek that “distorted his face and slurred his speech.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 21, 2025
May added that Tole “can speak right now, but it’s just so slurred and so labored for him, just because of all the trauma to his mouth and cheek.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2025
"His speech was slurred and sometimes we could hardly understand him," Yehia says.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2025
I discovered that my speech was becoming slurred, and there was a lightness in my head.
From "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes
Chopin sought to convey these moods through explicit performing directions about fingering, pedaling and slurring.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 29, 2026
A prominent Australian television reporter apologised Thursday after slurring her way through a live broadcast from the Winter Olympics in a clip that went viral.
From Barron's ● Feb. 19, 2026
The most common symptoms are struggling to smile or raise an arm, and slurring words when speaking.
From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2024
Since you brought up the Elon Musk interview, people have been saying that Trump sounded like he was slurring his words a little bit, maybe like he had a lisp.
From Salon ● Aug. 21, 2024
A good example of slurring occurs when a vocalist sings more than one note on the same syllable of text.
From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones
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