obtrectation

English

Etymology

From Middle French obtrectacion and its source, Latin obtrectātiō (“disparagement”), from the participle stem of obtrectāre.

Noun

obtrectation (countable and uncountable, plural obtrectations)

1. (obsolete) Disparagement, the belittling of someone or something; slander. [16th–18th c.]
   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:
     , I.2.5.i:

     For as anger, fear, sorrow, obtrectation, emulation, etc. […] cause grievous diseases in the body, so bodily diseases affect the soul by consent.