slur
noun · verb
Simple meaning
An insult or slight.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
slurIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈslɝ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
An insult or slight, especially one that is muttered incoherently under one's breath.
An extremely offensive and socially unacceptable term targeted at a group of people (such as an ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc.).
An act of running one's words together; poor verbal articulation.
Any instance of separate things gradually blending together, such as heartbeats in some medical disorders.
A mark of dishonour; a blight or stain.
verb
To insult or slight.
To run together; to articulate poorly.
To soil; to sully; to contaminate; to disgrace.
To cheat, as by sliding a die; to trick.
To cover over; to disguise; to conceal; to pass over lightly or with little notice.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: An insult or slight, especially one that is muttered incoherently under one's breath.
Used this way, slur is a reasonably familiar word with a faintly unfavourable edge. It stays understated rather than dramatic. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Mild
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Treat hurriedly or avoid dealing with properly.
A slur on someone's race or language.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.