Roget's Thesaurus by Peter Mark Roget
936. V. detract, derogate, decry, deprecate, depreciate, disparage; run
734 words | Chapter 190
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.窶年. 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.窶年. 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.窶年. 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.窶年. 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].
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