denigration means the act of making black; a blackening or defamation. It carries an Arena rating of 1435, earned across 78 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, denigration ranks #1,324 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words, #1,981 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #2,343 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #2,517 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books.
Why “denigration” is a great word
DENIGRATION — [Noun] The act of unfairly criticizing or defaming someone, with the implication of blackening character or reputation. From Latin dēnigrātiōn-, stem of dēnigrātiō ("a blackening"), from dēnigrāre ("to blacken"), from dē- ("completely") + nigrāre ("to blacken"), from niger ("black"). First recorded in English 1605–15. Unlike "criticism," which can be fair or constructive, or "defamation," which is a legally actionable falsehood, denigration is the deliberate staining of a name, often with truth taken out of context. It is the inkblot carefully dropped on a white reputation, the whispered aside that leaves a smudge of doubt, the gradual accumulation of grime on a public portrait until the features are unrecognizable—a testament to the terrible, permanent power of metaphor made literal.
Etymology
By surface analysis, denigrate + -ion.
noun
- The act of making black; a blackening or defamation.
- An unfair criticism.e.g.“To nostalgic eyes they became absolutely and almost mercifully unrecognisable. Nor did they escape a full measure of denigration.” — 1952 January, Henry Maxwell, “Farewell to the "T14s"”, in Railway Magazine, page 57:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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