#934. Detraction.—N. detraction, disparagement, depreciation, vilification, obloquy, scurrility, scandal, defamation, aspersion, traducement, slander, calumny, obtrectation[obs3], evil-speaking, backbiting, scandalum magnatum[Lat]. personality, libel, lampoon, skit, pasquinade; chronique scandaleuse[Fr]; roorback [U.S.]. sarcasm, cynicism; criticism (disapprobation) 932; invective &c. 932; envenomed tongue; spretae injuria formae[Lat]. personality, libel, lampoon, skit, pasquinade; chronique scandaleuse[Fr]; roorback [U.S.]. detractor &c. 936. V. detract, derogate, decry, deprecate, depreciate, disparage; run down, cry down; backcap [obs3][U.S.]; belittle; sneer at &c. (contemn) 930; criticize, pull to pieces, pick a hole in one's coat, asperse, cast aspersions, blow upon, bespatter, blacken, vilify, vilipend[obs3]; avile|; give a dog a bad name, brand, malign; muckrake; backbite, libel, lampoon, traduce, slander, defame, calumniate, bear false witness against; speak ill of behind one's back. fling dirt &c. (disrespect) 929; anathematize &c. 932; dip the pen in gall, view in a bad light. impugn[disparage the motives of]; assail, attack &c. 716; oppose &c. 708; denounce, accuse &c. 938. Adj. detracting &c.v.; defamatory, detractory[obs3], derogatory, deprecatory; catty; disparaging, libelous; scurrile, scurrilous; abusive; foul-spoken, foul-tongued, foul-mouthed; slanderous; calumnious, calumniatory[obs3]; sarcastic, sardonic; sarcastic, satirical, cynical. critical &c. 932. Phr. "damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer; and without sneering, teach the rest to sneer" [Pope]; another lie nailed to the counter; "cut men's throats with whisperings" [B. Jonson]; "foul whisperings are abroad" "soft-buzzing slander" [Macbeth][Thomson]; "virtue itself 'scapes not calumnious strokes" [Hamlet].
#935. Flatterer.—N. flatterer, adulator; eulogist, euphemist; optimist, encomiast, laudator[Lat], whitewasher. toady, toadeater[obs3]; sycophant, courtier, Sir Pertinax MacSycophant; flaneur[Fr], proneur[Fr]; puffer, touter[obs3], claqueur[Fr]; clawback[obs3], earwig, doer of dirty work; parasite, hanger-on &c. (servility) 886. yes-man, suckup, ass-kisser [vulgar], brown-noser [vulgar], teacher's pet. Phr. pessimum genus inimicorum laudantes [Lat][Tacitus].
#936. Detractor.—N. detractor, reprover; censor, censurer; cynic,
critic, caviler, carper, word-catcher, frondeur; barracker[obs3].
defamer, backbiter, slanderer, Sir Benjamin Backbite, lampooner,
satirist, traducer, libeler, calumniator, dawplucker[obs3],
Thersites[obs3]; Zoilus; good-natured friend [satirically]; reviler,
vituperator, castigator; shrew &c. 901; muckraker.
disapprover, laudator temporis acti [Lat][Horace].
Adj. black-mouthed, abusive &c. 934.
#937. Vindication.—N. vindication, justification, warrant;
exoneration, exculpation; acquittal &c. 970; whitewashing.
extenuation; palliation, palliative; softening, mitigation.
reply, defense; recrimination &c 938.
apology, gloss, varnish; plea &c. 617; salvo; excuse, extenuating
circumstances; allowance, allowance to be made; locus paenitentiae[Lat].
apologist, vindicator, justifier; defendant &c. 938.
justifiable charge, true bill.
v. justify, warrant; be an excuse &c. n.for; lend a color, furnish a
handle; vindicate; exculpate, disculpate[obs3]; acquit &c. 970; clear, set
right, exonerate, whitewash; clear the skirts of.
extenuate, palliate, excuse, soften, apologize, varnish, slur, gloze;
put a gloss, put a good face upon; mince; gloss over, bolster up, help a
lame dog over a stile.
advocate, defend, plead one's cause; stand up for, stick up for, speak
up for; contend for, speak for; bear out, keep in countenance, support;
plead &c, 617; say in defense; plead ignorance; confess and avoid,
propugn[obs3], put in a good word for.
take the will for the deed, make allowance for, give credit for, do
justice to; give one his due, give the Devil his due.
make good; prove the truth of, prove one's case; be justified by the
event.
Adj. vindicated, vindicating &c v.; exculpatory; apologetic.
excusable, defensible, pardonable; venial, veniable[obs3]; specious,
plausible, justifiable.
Phr. "honi sot qui mal y pense"; "good wine needs no bush."
#938. Accusation.—N. accusation, charge, imputation, slur, inculpation, exprobration[obs3], delation; crimination; incrimination, accrimination[obs3], recrimination; tu quoque argument[Lat]; invective &c. 932. denunciation, denouncement; libel, challenge, citation, arraignment; impeachment, appeachment[obs3]; indictment, bill of indictment, true bill; lawsuit &c. 969; condemnation &c. 971. gravamen of a charge, head and front of one's offending, argumentum ad hominem[Lat]; scandal &c. (detraction) 934; scandalum magnatum[Lat]. accuser, prosecutor, plaintiff; relator, informer; appellant. accused, defendant, prisoner, perpetrator, panel, respondent; litigant. V. accuse, charge, tax, impute, twit, taunt with, reproach. brand with reproach; stigmatize, slur; cast a stone at, cast a slur on; incriminate, criminate; inculpate, implicate; call to account &c. (censure) 932; take to blame, take to task; put in the black book. inform against, indict, denounce, arraign; impeach, appeach[obs3]; have up, show up, pull up; challenge, cite, lodge a complaint; prosecute, bring an action against &c. 969; blow upon. charge with, saddle with; lay to one's door, lay charge; lay the blame on, bring home to; cast in one's teeth, throw in one's teeth; cast the first stone at. have a rod in pickle for, keep a rod in pickle for; have a crow to pluck with. trump up a charge. Adj. accusing &c.v.; accusatory, accusative; imputative, denunciatory; recriminatory, criminatory[obs3]. accused &c.v.; suspected; under suspicion, under a cloud, under surveillance; in custody, in detention; in the lockup, in the watch house, in the house of detention. accusable, imputable; indefensible, inexcusable; unpardonable, unjustifiable; vicious &c. 845. Int. look at home; tu quoque &c. (retaliation) 718[Lat]. Phr. "the breath of accusation kills an innocent name" [Shelley]; "thou can'st not say I did it" [Macbeth].
3. MORAL CONDITIONS
#939. Probity.—N. probity, integrity, rectitude; uprightness &c. adj.; honesty, faith; honor; bonne foi[Fr], good faith, bona fides[Lat]; purity, clean hands. fairness &c. adj.; fair play, justice, equity, impartiality, principle, even-handedness; grace. constancy; faithfulness &c. adj.; fidelity, loyalty; incorruption, incorruptibility. trustworthiness &c. adj.; truth, candor, singleness of heart; veracity &c. 543; tender conscience &c. (sense of duty) 926. punctilio, delicacy, nicety; scrupulosity, scrupulousness &c. adj.; scruple; point, point of honor; punctuality. dignity &c, (repute) 873; respectability, respectableness &c. adj; gentilhomme[Fr], gentleman; man of honor, man of his word; fidus Achates[Lat][obs3], preux chevalier[Fr], galantuomo[It]; truepenny[obs3], trump, brick; true Briton; white man * [U.S.]. court of honor, a fair field and no favor; argumentum ad verecundiam[Lat]. V. be honorable &c. adj.; deal honorably, deal squarely, deal impartially, deal fairly; speak the truth &c. (veracity) 543; draw a straight furrow; tell the truth and shame the Devil, vitam impendere vero[Lat]; show a proper spirit, make a point of; do one's duty &c. (virtue) 944. redeem one's pledge &c. 926; keep one's promise, be as good as one's promise, be as good as one's word; keep faith with, not fail. give and take, audire alteram partem[Lat], give the Devil his due, put the saddle on the right horse. redound to one's honor. Adj. upright; honest, honest as daylight; veracious &c. 543; virtuous &c. 944; honorable; fair, right, just, equitable, impartial, evenhanded, square; fair and aboveboard, open and aboveboard; white * [U.S.]. constant, constant as the northern star; faithful, loyal, staunch; true, true blue, true to one's colors, true to the core, true as the needle to the pole; "marble-constant" [Antony and Cleopatra]; true-hearted, trusty, trustworthy; as good as one's word, to be depended on, incorruptible. straightforward &c. (ingenuous) 703; frank, candid, open-hearted. conscientious, tender-conscienced, right-minded; high-principled, high-minded; scrupulous, religious, strict; nice, punctilious, correct, punctual; respectable, reputable; gentlemanlike[obs3]. inviolable, inviolate; unviolated[obs3], unbroken, unbetrayed; unbought, unbribed[obs3]. innocent &c. 946; pure, stainless; unstained, untarnished, unsullied, untainted, unperjured[obs3]; uncorrupt, uncorrupted; undefiled, undepraved[obs3], undebauched[obs3]; integer vitae scelerisque purus [Lat][Horace]; justus et tenax propositi [Lat][Horace]. chivalrous, jealous of honor, sans peur et sans reproche[Fr]; high- spirited. supramundane[obs3], unworldly, other-worldly, overscrupulous[obs3]. Adv. honorable &c. adj.; bona fide; on the square, in good faith, honor bright, foro conscientiae[Lat], with clean hands. Phr. "a face untaught to feign" [Pope]; bene qui latuit bene vixit [Lat][Ovid]; mens sibi conscia recti[Lat]; probitas laudatur et alget [Lat][obs3][Juvenal]; fidelis ad urnam[Lat]; "his heart as far from fraud as heaven from earth" [Two Gentlemen]; loyaute m'oblige[Fr]; loyaute n'a honte[Fr]; "what stronger breastplate than a heart untainted?" [Henry VI].
#940. Improbity.—N. improbity[obs3]; dishonesty, dishonor; deviation from rectitude; disgrace &c. (disrepute) 874; fraud &c. (deception) 545; lying &c. 544; bad faith, Punic faith; mala fides[Lat], Punica fides[Lat]; infidelity; faithlessness &c. adj.; Judas kiss, betrayal. breach of promise, breach of trust, breach of faith; prodition|, disloyalty, treason, high treason; apostasy &c. (tergiversation) 607; nonobservance &c. 773. shabbiness &c. adj.; villainy, villany[obs3]; baseness &c. adj.; abjection, debasement, turpitude, moral turpitude, laxity, trimming, shuffling. perfidy; perfidiousness &c. adj.; treachery, double dealing; unfairness &c. adj.; knavery, roguery, rascality, foul play; jobbing, jobbery; graft, bribery; venality, nepotism; corruption, job, shuffle, fishy transaction; barratry, sharp practice, heads I win tails you lose; mouth honor &c. (flattery) 933. V. be dishonest &c. adj.; play false; break one's word, break one's faith, break one's promise; jilt, betray, forswear; shuffle &c. (lie) 544; live by one's wits, sail near the wind. disgrace oneself, dishonor oneself, demean oneself; derogate, stoop, grovel, sneak, lose caste; sell oneself, go over to the enemy; seal one's infamy. Adj. dishonest, dishonorable; unconscientious, unscrupulous; fraudulent &c. 545; knavish; disgraceful &c. (disreputable) 974; wicked &c. 945. false-hearted, disingenuous; unfair, one-sided; double, double- hearted, double-tongued, double-faced; timeserving[obs3], crooked, tortuous,insidious, Machiavelian, dark, slippery; fishy; perfidious, treacherous, perjured. infamous, arrant, foul, base, vile, ignominious, blackguard. contemptible, unrespectable, abject, mean, shabby, little, paltry, dirty, scurvy, scabby, sneaking, groveling, scrubby, rascally, pettifogging; beneath one. low-minded, low-thoughted[obs3]; base-minded. undignified, indign|; unbecoming, unbeseeming[obs3], unbefitting; derogatory, degrading; infra dignitatem [Latin: beneath one's dignity]; ungentlemanly, ungentlemanlike; unknightly[obs3], unchivalric[obs3], unmanly, unhandsome; recreant, inglorious. corrupt, venal; debased, mongrel. faithless, of bad faith, false, unfaithful, disloyal; untrustworthy; trustless, trothless[obs3]; lost to shame, dead to honor; barratrous. Adv. dishonestly &c. adj.; mala fide[Lat], like a thief in the night, by crooked paths. Int. O tempora[obs3]! O mores! [Cicero]. Phr. corruptissima respublica plurimae leges [Lat][Tacitus].
#941. Knave.—N. knave, rogue; Scapin[obs3], rascal; Lazarillo de Tormes; bad man &c. 949; blackguard &c. 949; barrater[obs3], barrator[obs3]; shyster [U.S..]. traitor, betrayer, archtraitor[obs3], conspirator, Judas, Catiline; reptile, serpent, snake in the grass, wolf in sheep's clothing, sneak, Jerry Sneak, squealer*, tell-tale, mischief-maker; trimmer, fence-sitter, renegade &c. (tergiversation) 607; truant, recreant; sycophant &c. (servility) 886.
#942. Disinterestedness.—N. disinterestedness &c. adj.; generosity; liberality, liberalism; altruism; benevolence &c. 906; elevation, loftiness of purpose, exaltation, magnanimity; chivalry, chivalrous spirit; heroism, sublimity. self-denial, self-abnegation, self-sacrifice, self-immolation, self- control &c. (resolution) 604; stoicism, devotion, martyrdom, suttee. labor of love. V. be disinterested &c. adj.; make a sacrifice, lay one's head on the block; put oneself in the place of others, do as one would be done by, do unto others as we would men should do unto us. Adj. disinterested; unselfish; self-denying, self-sacrificing, self- devoted; generous. handsome, liberal, noble, broad-minded; noble-minded, high-minded; princely, great, high, elevated, lofty, exalted, spirited, stoical, magnanimous; great-hearted, large-hearted; chivalrous, heroic, sublime. unbought, unbribed[obs3]; uncorrupted &c. (upright) 939. Phr. non vobis solum[Lat].