Syn. — To slander; defame; detract from; calumniate; vilify. — To Asperse, Defame, Slander, Calumniate. These words have in common the idea of falsely assailing the character of another. To asperse is figuratively to cast upon a character hitherto unsullied the imputation of blemishes or faults which render it offensive or loathsome. To defame is to detract from a man's honor and reputation by charges calculated to load him with infamy. Slander (etymologically the same as scandal) and calumniate, from the Latin, have in common the sense of circulating reports to a man's injury from unworthy or malicious motives. Men asperse their neighbors by malignant insinuations; they defame by advancing charges to blacken or sully their fair fame; they slander or calumniate by spreading injurious reports which are false, or by magnifying slight faults into serious errors or crimes.
ASPERSED
As*persed", a.
1. (Her.)
Defn: Having an indefinite number of small charges scattered or strewed over the surface. Cussans.
2. Bespattered; slandered; calumniated. Motley.
ASPERSER
As*pers"er, n.
Defn: One who asperses; especially, one who vilifies another.
ASPERSION
As*per"sion, n. Etym: [L. aspersio, fr. aspergere: cf. F. aspersion.]
1. A sprinkling, as with water or dust, in a literal sense. Behold an immersion, not and aspersion. Jer. Taylor.
2. The spreading of calumniations reports or charges which tarnish reputation, like the bespattering of a body with foul water; calumny. Every candid critic would be ashamed to cast wholesale aspersions on the entire body of professional teachers. Grote. Who would by base aspersions blot thy virtue. Dryden.