Englishdefame
verb
he had been defamed by an article in a tabloid newspaper:
libel, slander, malign, cast aspersions on, smear, traduce, blacken the name/character of, give someone a bad name, defame someone's character, sully someone's reputation, run down, speak ill/evil of, back-bite, run a smear campaign against, calumniate, vilify, besmirch, tarnish, stigmatize, disparage, denigrate, discredit, decry, insult, lie about, tell lies about;
informal do a hatchet job on, sling/fling/throw mud at, drag through the mud/mire;
North American slur;
British, informal slag off;
North American, informal bad-mouth;
rare asperse, derogate, vilipend.
| choose the right word | defame, malign, slander, libel, traduce |
| See malign. | |
defame Oxford Dictionary of English