Roget's Thesaurus by Peter Mark Roget

down, cry down; backcap [obs3][U.S.]; belittle; sneer at &c. (contemn) 930; criticize, pull to pieces, pick a hole in one's coat, asperse, cast aspersions, blow upon, bespatter, blacken, vilify, vilipend[obs3]; avile|; give a dog a bad name, brand, malign; muckrake; backbite, libel, lampoon, traduce, slander, defame, calumniate, bear false witness against; speak ill of behind one's back. fling dirt &c. (disrespect) 929; anathematize &c. 932; dip the pen in gall, view in a bad light. impugn[disparage the motives of]; assail, attack &c. 716; oppose &c. 708; denounce, accuse &c. 938. Adj. detracting &c.v.; defamatory, detractory[obs3], derogatory, deprecatory; catty; disparaging, libelous; scurrile, scurrilous; abusive; foul-spoken, foul-tongued, foul-mouthed; slanderous; calumnious, calumniatory[obs3]; sarcastic, sardonic; sarcastic, satirical, cynical. critical &c. 932. Phr. "damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer; and without sneering, teach the rest to sneer" [Pope]; another lie nailed to the counter; "cut men's throats with whisperings" [B. Jonson]; "foul whisperings are abroad" "soft-buzzing slander" [Macbeth][Thomson]; "virtue itself 'scapes not calumnious strokes" [Hamlet]. #935. Flatterer.窶年. flatterer, adulator; eulogist, euphemist; optimist, encomiast, laudator[Lat], whitewasher. toady, toadeater[obs3]; sycophant, courtier, Sir Pertinax MacSycophant; flaneur[Fr], proneur[Fr]; puffer, touter[obs3], claqueur[Fr]; clawback[obs3], earwig, doer of dirty work; parasite, hanger-on &c. (servility) 886. yes-man, suckup, ass-kisser [vulgar], brown-noser [vulgar], teacher's pet. Phr. pessimum genus inimicorum laudantes [Lat][Tacitus]. #936. Detractor.窶年. detractor, reprover; censor, censurer; cynic, # critic, caviler, carper, word-catcher, frondeur; barracker[obs3]. defamer, backbiter, slanderer, Sir Benjamin Backbite, lampooner, satirist, traducer, libeler, calumniator, dawplucker[obs3], Thersites[obs3]; Zoilus; good-natured friend [satirically]; reviler, vituperator, castigator; shrew &c. 901; muckraker. disapprover, laudator temporis acti [Lat][Horace]. Adj. black-mouthed, abusive &c. 934. #937. Vindication.窶年. vindication, justification, warrant; # exoneration, exculpation; acquittal &c. 970; whitewashing. extenuation; palliation, palliative; softening, mitigation. reply, defense; recrimination &c 938. apology, gloss, varnish; plea &c. 617; salvo; excuse, extenuating circumstances; allowance, allowance to be made; locus paenitentiae[Lat]. apologist, vindicator, justifier; defendant &c. 938. justifiable charge, true bill. v. justify, warrant; be an excuse &c. n.for; lend a color, furnish a handle; vindicate; exculpate, disculpate[obs3]; acquit &c. 970; clear, set right, exonerate, whitewash; clear the skirts of. extenuate, palliate, excuse, soften, apologize, varnish, slur, gloze; put a gloss, put a good face upon; mince; gloss over, bolster up, help a lame dog over a stile. advocate, defend, plead one's cause; stand up for, stick up for, speak up for; contend for, speak for; bear out, keep in countenance, support; plead &c, 617; say in defense; plead ignorance; confess and avoid, propugn[obs3], put in a good word for. take the will for the deed, make allowance for, give credit for, do justice to; give one his due, give the Devil his due. make good; prove the truth of, prove one's case; be justified by the event. Adj. vindicated, vindicating &c v.; exculpatory; apologetic. excusable, defensible, pardonable; venial, veniable[obs3]; specious, plausible, justifiable. Phr. "honi sot qui mal y pense"; "good wine needs no bush." #938. Accusation.窶年. accusation, charge, imputation, slur, inculpation, exprobration[obs3], delation; crimination; incrimination, accrimination[obs3], recrimination; tu quoque argument[Lat]; invective &c. 932. denunciation, denouncement; libel, challenge, citation, arraignment; impeachment, appeachment[obs3]; indictment, bill of indictment, true bill; lawsuit &c. 969; condemnation &c. 971. gravamen of a charge, head and front of one's offending, argumentum ad hominem[Lat]; scandal &c. (detraction) 934; scandalum magnatum[Lat]. accuser, prosecutor, plaintiff; relator, informer; appellant. accused, defendant, prisoner, perpetrator, panel, respondent; litigant. V. accuse, charge, tax, impute, twit, taunt with, reproach. brand with reproach; stigmatize, slur; cast a stone at, cast a slur on; incriminate, criminate; inculpate, implicate; call to account &c. (censure) 932; take to blame, take to task; put in the black book. inform against, indict, denounce, arraign; impeach, appeach[obs3]; have up, show up, pull up; challenge, cite, lodge a complaint; prosecute, bring an action against &c. 969; blow upon. charge with, saddle with; lay to one's door, lay charge; lay the blame on, bring home to; cast in one's teeth, throw in one's teeth; cast the first stone at. have a rod in pickle for, keep a rod in pickle for; have a crow to pluck with. trump up a charge. Adj. accusing &c.v.; accusatory, accusative; imputative, denunciatory; recriminatory, criminatory[obs3]. accused &c.v.; suspected; under suspicion, under a cloud, under surveillance; in custody, in detention; in the lockup, in the watch house, in the house of detention. accusable, imputable; indefensible, inexcusable; unpardonable, unjustifiable; vicious &c. 845. Int. look at home; tu quoque &c. (retaliation) 718[Lat]. Phr. "the breath of accusation kills an innocent name" [Shelley]; "thou can'st not say I did it" [Macbeth].