traduce

[truh-doos, -dyoos]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR traduce ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), tra·duced, tra·duc·ing.

to speak maliciously and falsely of; slander; defame: to traduce someone's character.

Origin of traduce

1525–35; < Latin trādūcere, variant of trānsdūcere to transfer, display, expose, equivalent to trāns- trans- + dūcere to lead

Related formstra·duce·ment, nountra·duc·er, nountra·duc·ing·ly, adverbun·tra·duced, adjective

Synonyms for traduce

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR traduce ON THESAURUS.COM

vilify, decry, disparage.

Antonyms for traduce

praise.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for traduce

disgrace, slur, smear, slander, denigrate, malign, defame, vilify, calumniate

Examples from the Web for traduce

Contemporary Examples of traduce

Traduce him, delegitimize him—and slow economic recovery in hopes that voters will cast a protest vote for the GOP.
The Obama Scandals Are Desperate Measures by the GOP
Robert Shrum
May 17, 2013
The m.o. is the same: the first and main thing is to traduce and offend liberal sensibility.
Neocons at Play: Making Liberals Squirm
Michael Tomasky
May 20, 2011

Historical Examples of traduce

I often found it on my lips to say "Do not traduce me to her!"
Browning's England
Helen Archibald Clarke
The very next day she will embrace, kiss, and traduce you, as if nothing had happened.
A Hungarian Nabob
Maurus Jkai
It may be that our modern preachers know but little of that which they traduce.
Oxford
Andrew 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. 13
Elbert Hubbard
And now he was trying to libel her, to traduce her to her father!
At His Gates, Vol. 1(of 3)
Margaret Oliphant

British Dictionary definitions for traduce

traduce

verb

(tr) to speak badly of

Derived Formstraducement, nountraducer, nountraducible, adjective

Word Origin for traduce

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 Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for traduce

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.