English → Latin
“defame” in Latin
calumniorto depreciate, misrepresent, cavil at, calumniate, blame unjustly, blackmail; to contrive tricks, intrigue; to accuse facrīminorto accuse, denounce, charge; to allege, slander, defame; to reprimand, reproachcastusmorally pure, guiltless, spotless; especially in regard to sexual morality: pure, chaste, unpolluted, virtuous, continen
The English word defame itself goes back to Latin fāma, through diffāmō.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
defame
alicui infamiam movere; aliquem infamare (to bring anybody into ill repute): aliquem variis rumoribus differre; aliquem diffamare (to spread reports against anybody diffamare, post-Augustan, Tac.): calumniari (to accuse falsely, and from base motives): criminari (to blacken, and render suspected by false accusations); anybody to anybody, aliquem apud aliquem: de fama or existimatione alicujus detrahere (to detract, from anybody’s good name): maledicere alicui (to speak ill of anybody): probrum inferre (e.g., castis, Cic.): behind the back, de aliquo absente detrahendi causa maledice contumelioseque dicere (Cic., Off., 1, 37, 134); alicui absenti male loqui (Terentianus, Phorm., 2, 3, 25): I am defamed, detrahitur de mea fama.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for defame?
- The usual Latin words for “defame” are calumnior, crīminor, castus. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.