slur
- to pass over lightly or without due mention or consideration (often followed by over): The report slurred over her contribution to the enterprise.
- to pronounce (a syllable, word, etc.) indistinctly by combining, reducing, or omitting sounds, as in hurried or careless utterance.
- to cast aspersions on; calumniate; disparage; depreciate: The candidate was viciously slurred by his opponent.
- Music.
- to sing to a single syllable or play without a break (two or more tones of different pitch).
- to mark with a slur.
- Chiefly British Dialect. to smirch, sully, or stain.
- to read, speak, or sing hurriedly and carelessly.
- a slurred utterance or sound.
- a disparaging remark or a slight: quick to take offense at a slur;an ethnic slur against people of Irish descent.
- a blot or stain, as upon reputation: a slur on his good name.
- Music.
- the combination of two or more tones of different pitch, sung to a single syllable or played without a break.
- a curved mark indicating this.
- Printing. a spot that is blurred or unclear as a result of paper, plate, or blanket slippage.
Origin of slur
Synonyms for slur
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comAntonyms for slur
Related Words for slurring
garble, mispronounce, disgrace, zing, snub, vilify, blot, traduce, discredit, insinuate, libel, stain, slight, brand, blacken, denigrate, offend, detract, reproach, blisterExamples from the Web for slurring
Contemporary Examples of slurring
The slurring of relationships and transactions has effects ranging from the gruesome to the melancholy.
Shawn and Shelley sat in the sun at the pool until Jerry Lee came out, looking mean and slurring his words.
He did not appear drunk in any obvious weaving, slurring way.
It turns out that as a slurring, stumbling Weeble Wobble of a trophy wife, Akerman really shines.
Slurring her words and stumbling on her delivery, people wondered aloud if, gasp, Sawyer was drunk on air.
Historical Examples of slurring
Whatever Chip did he did thoroughly, with no slurring of detail.
Chip, of the Flying UB. M. Bower
He articulated with some difficulty, slurring his words to the point of indistinctness at times.
The Black BagLouis Joseph Vance
"You were slurring again, slurring again," he said, frightened at his lack of self-control.
The Music MasterCharles Klein
Gregory smiled at her slurring reference to Hawkins' two friends.
El DiabloBrayton Norton
Grant tried to copy the slurring softness she gave to the word.
Dust of the DesertRobert Welles Ritchie
slur
- (often foll by over) to treat superficially, hastily, or without due deliberation; gloss
- (also intr) to pronounce or utter (words, etc) indistinctly
- to speak disparagingly of or cast aspersions on
- music to execute (a melodic interval of two or more notes) smoothly, as in legato performance
- (also intr) to blur or smear
- archaic to stain or smear; sully
- an indistinct sound or utterance
- a slighting remark; aspersion
- a stain or disgrace, as upon one's reputation; stigma
- music
- a performance or execution of a melodic interval of two or more notes in a part
- the curved line (⌢ or ⌣) indicating this
- a blur or smear
Word Origin for slur
Word Origin and History for slurring
slur
"deliberate slight, disparaging or slighting remark," c.1600, from dialectal slur "thin or fluid mud," from Middle English slore (mid-15c.), cognate with Middle Low German sluren, Middle Dutch sloren "to trail in mud." Related to East Frisian sluren "to go about carelessly," Norwegian slora "to be careless." Literal sense of "a mark, stain, smear" is from 1660s in English. The musical sense (1746) is from the notion of "sliding." Meaning "act or habit of slurring" in speech is from 1882.
slur
c.1600, "smear, soil by smearing," from slur (n.). Meaning "disparage depreciate" is from 1650s. In music, from 1746; of speech, from 1893. Related: Slurred; slurring.