də̇ˈtrakshən, dēˈ- noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English detraccioun, from Middle French detraction, from Late Latin detraction-, detractio, from Latin, withdrawal, from detractus (past participle of detrahere ) + -ion-, -io -ion
1. : the uttering of material (as false or slanderous charges) that is likely to damage the reputation of another : defamation , disparagement
2. : a taking away : subtraction
a detraction from the dignity of the legislature
Synonyms:
slander , backbiting , calumny , scandal : detraction , the least colorful of this group, is likely to stress the fact of damage to reputation, esteem, or credit and to leave unstressed motives for or kinds of malicious utterance
I have no thought to paint the failings of our law in lurid colors of detraction. I have little doubt that its body is for the most part sound and pure — B.N.Cardozo
no momentary happiness to have one enclosure where the voice that speaks in envy or detraction is not heard; which malice may not enter — William Wordsworth
slander , often legal or legalistic in suggestion, likewise connotes actual definite harm to the victim and suggests oral utterance of damaging statements, either quite maliciously and with full realization of their effect or quite carelessly and without consideration
a slander, with which envy prompts the malignity of persons in their senses to asperse wittier than themselves — William Cowper
this charge cannot be excused as a reckless slander. It was a deliberate falsehood, a lie — New Republic
Sometimes slander may involve statements true in fact but usually not uttered and hence having the nature of the defamatory when uttered
it is not hypocrisy to conceal the desires or imaginings which one would never act upon. To tell these is not true disclosure of oneself, but slander — H.O.Taylor
backbiting suggests continued mean criticism, belittling, and unfair attacks on an absent friend, colleague, or associate by one from whom loyalty and fairness could be expected
jealousy and intrigue and backbiting, producing a poisonous atmosphere of underground competition — Bertrand Russell
calumny may stress the purposive malice of the agent and the fact of his deliberate use of falsehood or misrepresentation
these calumnies, indeed, could find credit only with the undiscerning multitude; but with these calumnies were mingled accusations much better founded — T.B.Macaulay
a fellow … telling people that I was a consummate hypocrite. He could know nothing of it … I had given him no ground for that particular calumny — Joseph Conrad
scandal suggests gossipy repetition of and emphasis on discreditable details, especially lurid ones, that defame
I saw him coming out of the brush with that oldest girl of Trinidad's, only Sunday night. The reappearance of the priest upon the scene cut short further scandal — Willa Cather
she was reconciled to the facts, but when she knew or suspected that they might be a subject of scandal among people who would be “sorry for her”, she felt the situation intolerable — Havelock Ellis