as in defamation
the making of false statements that damage another's reputation
public maligning of a person can actually be grounds for a lawsuit
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in smearing
to make untrue and harmful statements about
a candidate who believes that it is possible to win an election without maligning anyone
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in insulting
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of maligning
Lauren Carasik, Foreign Affairs, 22 Feb. 2017
Adjective
Defense attorneys have also decried violations of fair-trial rights, saying that the prosecutor in the cases has sought to influence the jury pool by maligning those charged.
—Lauren Carasik, Foreign Affairs, 22 Feb. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for maligning
Noun
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Last week, a filing in the defamation case against Powell also showed the parties seeking voluntary dismissal.—
Olivia Rubin,
ABC News,
27 Sep. 2025
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In a statement shared with The Guardian, a spokesperson for Ferguson said the duchess felt compelled to send the email after Epstein allegedly threatened to sue her for defamation over her comments to the Standard.—
Jon Blistein,
Rolling Stone,
26 Sep. 2025
Verb
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After smearing Tylenol, the president's unscripted remarks quickly veered into an incoherent rant linking vaccines to autism as well.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
24 Sep. 2025
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Ciarlo has been a beauty aficionado from her early age of sneaking into her mother's makeup drawer and smearing Joker-esque lipstick on her face.—
Conçetta Ciarlo,
Vogue,
11 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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To educate all of them in similar ways is insulting, and silly.—
Josh Hammer,
MSNBC Newsweek,
23 Sep. 2025
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Perkins said the drink bore the insulting message.—
Victoria Moorwood,
Cincinnati Enquirer,
22 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Apart from the libel suits, which the President can add teeth to by threatening regulatory sanctions or by slow-walking mergers and other business deals that require government approval, this is the persecution of people and organizations based on point of view.—
Louis Menand,
New Yorker,
26 Sep. 2025
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Ressa knows a thing or two about fighting a government that is trying to silence the free press; in the Philippines, she was arrested and later found guilty of libel due to the fact that Rappler was critical of then-President Rodrigo Duterte.—
Michael Schneider,
Variety,
18 Sep. 2025
Verb
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And slandering council members, who publicly supported Madigan before Khadija Walker was nominated, is disrespectful and insulting.—
Reader Commentary,
Baltimore Sun,
11 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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And there would be lots of soldiers around, either Army or National Guard, and the people who were civilians would be young people, very disparaging about the military.—
Steve Baltin,
Forbes.com,
24 Aug. 2025
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The 2023 Economic Report Of The President published in March of 2023 was relatively disparaging of cryptoassets and DLTs.—
Lawrence Wintermeyer,
Forbes,
5 Dec. 2024
Verb
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The only way to stop this erosion is to remember what unites us, while seeking common ground, without vilifying the other side.—
Mark Waller,
Denver Post,
26 Sep. 2025
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There is great risk in potentially vilifying one of the most prescribed medications that the US Food and Drug Administration has approved and determined to be safe and effective for the treatment of mental illness, Brendel said.—
Kristen Rogers,
CNN Money,
4 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Charles Rolsky, executive director and senior research scientist at the Shaw Institute, a nonprofit focusing on the links between environmental and human health, says that many studies, including his own, suggest PVA can pass through wastewater treatment without completely degrading.—
Matt Fuchs,
Time,
29 Sep. 2025
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The mission emphasized that detaining adolescents under such conditions amounts to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.—
Antonio María Delgado,
Miami Herald,
23 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Maligning.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/maligning. Accessed 5 Oct. 2025.
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