ASPERSE
defame, slander, smirch, asperse, denigrate, calumniate, smear, sully, besmirch
(verb) charge falsely or with malicious intent; attack the good name and reputation of someone; “The journalists have defamed me!”; “The article in the paper sullied my reputation”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Verb
asperse (third-person singular simple present asperses, present participle aspersing, simple past and past participle aspersed)
To sprinkle or scatter (liquid or dust).
To falsely or maliciously charge another; to slander.
Synonyms
• See also defame
Anagrams
• Parsees, pareses, preases, preasse, seprase, serapes
Source: Wiktionary
As*perse", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Aspersed; p. pr. & vb. n. Aspersing.]
Etym: [L. aspersus, p. p. of aspergere to scatter, sprinkle; ad +
spargere to strew. See Sparse.]
1. To sprinkle, as water or dust, upon anybody or anything, or to
besprinkle any one with a liquid or with dust. Heywood.
2. To bespatter with foul reports or false and injurious charges; to
tarnish in point of reputation or good name; to slander or
calumniate; as, to asperse a poet or his writings; to asperse a man's
character.
With blackest crimes aspersed. Cowper.
Syn.
– To slander; defame; detract from; calumniate; vilify.
– To Asperse, Defame, Slander, Calumniate. These words have in
common the idea of falsely assailing the character of another. To
asperse is figuratively to cast upon a character hitherto unsullied
the imputation of blemishes or faults which render it offensive or
loathsome. To defame is to detract from a man's honor and reputation
by charges calculated to load him with infamy. Slander
(etymologically the same as scandal) and calumniate, from the Latin,
have in common the sense of circulating reports to a man's injury
from unworthy or malicious motives. Men asperse their neighbors by
malignant insinuations; they defame by advancing charges to blacken
or sully their fair fame; they slander or calumniate by spreading
injurious reports which are false, or by magnifying slight faults
into serious errors or crimes.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition