traduce
[truh-doos, -dyoos]
- to speak maliciously and falsely of; slander; defame: to traduce someone's character.
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Origin of traduce
1525–35; < Latin trādūcere, variant of trānsdūcere to transfer, display, expose, equivalent to trāns- trans- + dūcere to lead
Synonyms
See more synonyms for traduce on Thesaurus.comvilify, decry, disparage.
Antonyms
praise.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for traduce
Contemporary Examples
Traduce him, delegitimize him—and slow economic recovery in hopes that voters will cast a protest vote for the GOP.
The m.o. is the same: the first and main thing is to traduce and offend liberal sensibility.
Historical Examples
I often found it on my lips to say "Do not traduce me to her!"
Browning's EnglandHelen Archibald Clarke
The very next day she will embrace, kiss, and traduce you, as if nothing had happened.
A Hungarian NabobMaurus Jkai
It may be that our modern preachers know but little of that which they traduce.
OxfordAndrew Lang
You who call yourself my mother, how dare you traduce me so, you who bore me!
Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great, Vol. 13Elbert Hubbard
And now he was trying to libel her, to traduce her to her father!
At His Gates, Vol. 1(of 3)Margaret Oliphant
traduce
- (tr) to speak badly of
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Word Origin
C16: from Latin trādūcere to lead over, transmit, disgrace, from trans- + dūcere to lead
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for traduce
v.
1530s, "to alter, change over, transport," from Latin traducere "change over, convert," originally "lead along or across, transfer," from trans- "across" (see trans-) + ducere "to lead" (see duke (n.)). Sense of "defame, slander" (1580s) is from Latin traducere in the sense of "to scorn or disgrace," probably from the notion of "to lead along as a spectacle." Related: Traduced; traducing.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper