slur means an insult or slight, especially one that is muttered incoherently under one's breath. It carries an Arena rating of 1386, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, slur ranks #642 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #871 of 17,135 for Most Malleable Words, #1,581 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #1,684 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books.
slur is pronounced /slɜː/.
Why “slur” is a great word
A disparaging remark, especially a socially unacceptable term targeting a specific group, or the indistinct pronunciation of words by running sounds together. From Middle English *sloor, slore* ('thin or fluid mud'), of obscure origin; cognate with Middle Low German *sluren* ('to trail in mud'). The sense of 'disparaging remark' is first attested c. 1600, influenced by the idea of sullying a reputation. Unlike an 'aspersion,' which is a more formal, often implied criticism, or a 'mumble,' which is merely quiet and indistinct, a slur drags its object through the mire of prejudice or its sounds through a vocal lethargy. It is the racial epithet scrawled across a locker, the surname mangled by too much wine at a wedding toast, the slurred notes of a jazz solo dissolving melody into pure texture—a corruption, in either intent or articulation, of something meant to be clear, leaving behind the same residue as boots dragged through wet earth.
Etymology
From Middle English sloor (“thin or fluid mud”). The ultimate origin is uncertain, but perhaps related to a group of words derived from Proto-Germanic *slūm- (“loose, slack, flabby”), such as slumber. Cognate with Middle Low German sluren (“to trail in mud”). Also related to dialectal Norwegian sløra (“to be careless, to scamp, dawdle”), Danish sløre (“to wobble, be loose”) (especially for wheels); compare Old Norse slóðra (“to drag oneself along”). * (an extremely offensive term): Influenced by various compounds of sense 1 such as racial slur, ethnic slur, etc.
noun
- An insult or slight, especially one that is muttered incoherently under one's breath.
- An insult or slight, especially one that is muttered incoherently under one's breath.; An extremely offensive and socially unacceptable term targeted at a group of people (such as an ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc.).e.g.“In interviews, current and former students of color described an environment rife with racial insensitivity, including casual uses of slurs.” — 2020 December 26, Dan Levin, “A Racial Slur, a Viral Video, and a Reckoning”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 21 Jun 2023
- A mark of dishonour; a blight or stain.e.g.“a slur on one's reputation”
- An act of running one's words together; poor verbal articulation.e.g.“And now I'm drinking too much, so I'ma talk with a slur” — 2019, Juice Wrld, “Robbery”:
- Any instance of separate things gradually blending together, such as heartbeats in some medical disorders.
- A set of notes that are played legato, without separate articulation.
- The symbol indicating a legato passage, written as an arc over the slurred notes (not to be confused with a tie).
verb
- To insult or slight.e.g.“And how men slur him, saying all his force / Is melted into mere effeminacy?” — 1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Enid”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 6:
- To run together; to articulate poorly.e.g.“to slur syllables; He slurs his speech when he is drunk.”
- To play legato or without separate articulation; to connect (notes) smoothly.e.g.“Notes , the stems of which are joined together by cross lines, as in united quavers , semiquavers , & c . or notes over the heads of which a curve is drawn, to signify that they are to be slurred” — 1817, Thomas Busby, A Dictionary of Music, Theoretical and Practical:
- To soil; to sully; to contaminate; to disgrace.e.g.“they do not only impudently slur the gospel, according to the history and the letter, in making it no better than a romantical legend[…]” — 1678, R[alph] Cudworth, The True Intellectual System of the Universe: The First Part; wherein All the Reason and Philosophy of Atheism is Confuted; and Its Impossibility Demonstrated, London: […] Rich
- To cover over; to disguise; to conceal; to pass over lightly or with little notice.e.g.“With periods, points, and tropes, he slurs his crimes.” — 1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The First Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Toget
- To cheat, as by sliding a die; to trick.e.g.“to slur men of what they fought for” — 1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678; republished
- To blur or double, as an impression from type; to mackle.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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