slur

plural slurs

1. An insult or slight, especially one that is muttered incoherently under one's breath.

   Elon Musk's recent declaration that the term "cis" is a slur indicates just how much transphobia is now central to Twitter.

   2023 July 7, Johanna Mellis, “Now more than ever, cis female athletes must show solidarity with trans athletes”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 07 Jul 2023

   2 more examples

   It seems that according to their best guess, our mother's ^([sic]) drank too much coffee or alcohol, took drugs, or were under stress during the period of our conception. Underlying all this speculation is, of course, the big slur: we're some kind of unnatural or abnormal product, outside of humanity and their religions.

   1989 December 10, Zane Gilstrap, “Speculations About Why We're Gay”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 22, page 5

   In interviews, current and former students of color described an environment rife with racial insensitivity, including casual uses of slurs.

   2020 December 26, Dan Levin, “A Racial Slur, a Viral Video, and a Reckoning”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 21 Jun 2023

   1. An extremely offensive and socially unacceptable term targeted at a group of people (such as an ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc.).
2. A mark of dishonour; a blight or stain.

   a slur on one's reputation

   2 more examples

   The undeserved slur which he had cast on my management of the household did not, I am happy to say, prevent me from returning good for evil to the best of my ability, by complying with his request as readily and respectfully as ever.

   1859 November 26 – 1860 August 25, [William] Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White. […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], published 1860, →OCLC

   This was a reproach to John, and a slur upon the dog; and both were alive to their misfortune.

   1887, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Pastoral”, in Memories and Portraits, New York: Charles Scribner, page 99

3. An act of running one's words together; poor verbal articulation.

   And now I'm drinking too much, so I'ma talk with a slur

   2019, Juice Wrld, “Robbery”

4. Any instance of separate things gradually blending together, such as heartbeats in some medical disorders.
5. entertainmentA set of notes that are played legato, without separate articulation.
6. entertainmentThe symbol indicating a legato passage, written as an arc over the slurred notes (not to be confused with a tie).

present singular third person slurs · participle present slurring · participle past slurred · past slurred

1. To insult or slight.

   And how men slur him, saying all his force / Is melted into mere effeminacy?

   1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Enid”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 6

   Synonyms: abuse, dis, misuse, abuse, affront, burn, carry, cut down

2. To run together; to articulate poorly.

   to slur syllables;  He slurs his speech when he is drunk.

   2 more examples

   "Thank you for your donation," the girl says, slurring the words together into a single syllable.

   1992, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, page 182

   Manganism has been known about since the 19th century, when miners exposed to ores containing manganese, a silvery metal, began to totter, slur their speech and behave like someone inebriated.

   2014 April 21, “Subtle effects”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8884

3. entertainmentTo play legato or without separate articulation; to connect (notes) smoothly.

   Notes , the stems of which are joined together by cross lines, as in united quavers , semiquavers , & c . or notes over the heads of which a curve is drawn, to signify that they are to be slurred

   1817, Thomas Busby, A Dictionary of Music, Theoretical and Practical

4. To soil; to sully; to contaminate; to disgrace.

   they do not only impudently slur the gospel, according to the history and the letter, in making it no better than a romantical legend[…]

   1678, R[alph] Cudworth, The True Intellectual System of the Universe: The First Part; wherein All the Reason and Philosophy of Atheism is Confuted; and Its Impossibility Demonstrated, London: […] Richard Royston, […], →OCLC

   Synonyms: debase, disparage, befoul, tarnish, abase, bring down to size, cut down to size, debase

5. To cover over; to disguise; to conceal; to pass over lightly or with little notice.

   With periods, points, and tropes, he slurs his crimes.

   1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The First Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC

   Synonyms: cloak, hide, mask, occult

6. To cheat, as by sliding a die; to trick.

   to slur men of what they fought for

   1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC

   Synonyms: bilk, cozen, dupe, abuse, beglammer, counterfeit, deceive, catch

7. datedmediaTo blur or double, as an impression from type; to mackle.