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asperse is, as it were, to bespatter with injurious charges; to malign is to circulate studied and malicious
attacks upon character; to traduce is to exhibit one's real or assumed traits in an odious light; to revile or vilify
is to attack with vile abuse. To disparage is to represent one's admitted good traits or acts as less praiseworthy
than they would naturally be thought to be, as for instance, by ascribing a man's benevolence to a desire for
popularity or display. To libel or slander is to make an assault upon character and repute that comes within the
scope of law; the slander is uttered, the libel written, printed, or pictured. To backbite is to speak something
Synonyms and Antonyms, by James Champlin Fernald
268
secretly to one's injury; to calumniate is to invent as well as utter the injurious charge. One may "abuse,"
"assail," or vilify another to his face; he asperses, calumniates, slanders, or traduces him behind his back.
Antonyms:
defend, eulogize, extol, laud, praise, vindicate.
* * * * *
SLANG.
Synonyms:
cant, colloquialism, vulgarism, vulgarity.
A colloquialism is an expression not coarse or low, and perhaps not incorrect, but below the literary grade;
educated persons are apt to allow themselves some colloquialisms in familiar conversation, which they would
avoid in writing or public speaking. Slang, in the primary sense, denotes expressions that are either coarse and
rude in themselves or chiefly current among the coarser and ruder part of the community; there are also many
expressions current in special senses in certain communities that may be characterized as slang; as, college
slang; club slang; racing slang. In the evolution of language many words originally slang are adopted by good
writers and speakers, and ultimately take their place as accepted English. A vulgarism is an expression
decidedly incorrect, and the use of which is a mark of ignorance or low breeding. Cant, as used in this
connection, denotes the barbarous jargon used as a secret language by thieves, tramps, etc. Compare
DICTION; LANGUAGE.
* * * * *
SLOW.
Synonyms:
dawdling, dilatory, gradual, lingering, slack, delaying, drowsy, inactive, moderate, sluggish, deliberate, dull,
inert, procrastinating, tardy.
Slow signifies moving through a relatively short distance, or with a relatively small number of motions in a
given time; slow also applies to that which is a relatively long while in beginning or accomplishing
something; a watch or a clock is said to be slow when its indications are behind those of the standard time.
Tardy is applied to that which is behind the proper or desired time, especially in doing a work or arriving at a
place. Deliberate and dilatory are used of persons, tho the latter may be used also of things, as of a stream; a
person is deliberate who takes a noticeably long time to consider and decide before acting or who acts or
speaks as if he were deliberating at every point; a person is dilatory who lays aside, or puts off as long as
possible, necessary or required action; both words may be applied either to undertaking or to doing. Gradual
(L. gradus, a step) signifies advancing by steps, and refers to slow but regular and sure progression. Slack
refers to action that seems to indicate a lack of tension, as of muscle or of will, sluggish to action that seems as
if reluctant to advance.
Antonyms:
See synonyms for NIMBLE.
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Synonyms and Antonyms, by James Champlin Fernald
269
SNEER.
Synonyms:
fling, gibe, jeer, mock, scoff, taunt.
A sneer may be simply a contemptuous facial contortion, or it may be some brief satirical utterance that
throws a contemptuous side-light on what it attacks without attempting to prove or disprove; a depreciatory
implication may be given in a sneer such as could only be answered by elaborate argument or proof, which
would seem to give the attack undue importance:
Who can refute a sneer?
PALEY Moral Philosophy bk. v, ch. ix.
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