cast aspersions

present singular third person casts aspersions · participle present casting aspersions

1. idiomaticTo make damaging or spiteful remarks.

   Don't cast aspersions on me, or on my patriotism.

   4 more examples

   “You are casting aspersions,” remonstrated Peter Ivanovitch, “which as far as you are concerned—” “No!” Razumov interrupted without heat. “Indeed, I don’t want to cast aspersions, but it’s just as well to have no illusions.” Peter Ivanovitch gave him an inscrutable glance of his dark spectacles, accompanied by a faint smile. “The man who says that he has no illusions has at least that one,” he said, in a very friendly tone.

   1911, Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes

   Dismissing stability as the refusal to innovate (or rather cut costs), business leaders cast aspersions on the steadying tenets of the first half of the twentieth century, including social provisions and job security.

   2014, Astra Taylor, chapter 2, in The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age, Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN

   However, the exhibition was refused classification as it “contains materials that cast aspersions on the integrity of, and undermine public trust and confidence in public institutions involved in the administration of justice”.

   2024 October 9, Goh Yan Han, “Death penalty exhibition rejected over ‘false and one-sided’ info, possible contempt of court: IMDA”, in The Straits Times

   “To have the director of national intelligence cast aspersions upon the professionalism and public service of dedicated people, I just find basically offensive and wrong,” he said.

   2025 September 26, Julian E. Barnes, Helene Cooper, quoting Jake Sullivan, “Gabbard Ends Intelligence Report on Future Threats to U.S.”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC