Make Your Point: ASPERSION

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pronounce ASPERSION:

uh SPURZ yun

connect this word to others:

You might be squinting at today's word, thinking, "Didn't we just do that one?" Nope, but we did recently look at asperity. Although it would make a lot of sense to guess that the two are closely related, their similarity is a coincidence!

Asperity, roughness of manner, traces back to a Latin word for "rough," asper. And aspersion, a public insult or a verbal attack, traces to a word for "to strew, or to sprinkle," spargere.

So, aspersion is related to words like sparse, disperse, and intersperse, which makes sense when you think of how they all have to do with sprinkling things around, literally or figuratively.

In the case of aspersion, it's an insult or a nasty comment that's getting sprinkled around. Aspersions are verbal smears, slams, burns, put-downs, or brick___s (mean or critical comments that remind you of chunks of brick hurled at someone angrily and suddenly).

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

definition:

Take the prefix "ad-," meaning "on or to," and attach it to the Latin spargere, meaning "to strew, to sprinkle," and you get "aspersion," which literally means "(something) sprinkled on (someone)." Centuries ago in English, peopled talked about literal aspersions, such as "aspersions of holy water" or "aspersions of dirt."

Probably because some literal aspersions—dirt, mud, dust, and other things—leave stains, the word "aspersion" took on the figurative meaning that we use today.

Aspersions, now, are comments or verbal attacks that stain someone's character, as if by sprinkling that person's character with flecks of mud.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Noun, the countable kind: "We ignored that unfounded aspersion;" "They cast aspersions on him."

Other forms:

The plural noun is "aspersions." You're likely to see it more often than the singular, since we talk about people casting aspersions on other people.

There's also a very rare verb, "asperse." It's the transitive kind, as in "They aspersed her character." I don't recommend using this verb unless, for some reason, you're trying to sound strange and unidiomatic.

how to use it:

Pick the very formal, semi-common word "aspersion" when you want to suggest that someone's public insults about someone else are petty, cruel, unfair, undeserved, or all of the above.

Generally we stick to the metaphor of sprinkling or tossing verbal mud at someone: we talk about people casting aspersions on someone, or on someone's character or reputation.

Occasionally we talk about casting aspersions on someone's motives, actions, decisions, or values, as in "They cast aspersions on her hiring practices, accusing her of nepotism" or "They cast aspersions on his devotion to his children, saying he's an absent father."

examples:

"I was very, very wrong to call House dull. In fact, it's wonderful... I cast, let me be brutally honest here, aspersions. I said that, save for the exceptional two-part finale, it had become 'numbingly formulaic' by the end of season four."
— Lucy Mangan, The Guardian, 13 April 2010

"It seems... the government would rather quash the review than risk it producing results that cast aspersions on the coal industry."
— Nature, 31 August 2017

has this page helped you understand "aspersion"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "aspersion" without saying "slanderous comment" or "disparagement."

try it out:

Fill in the blanks: "(Someone) is more focused on (doing something positive or harmonious) than casting aspersions on (certain people or things)."

Example 1: "In interviews, Salma Hayek is more focused on highlighting the good directors she's worked for than casting aspersions on the bad ones."

Example 2: "The video [for the song 'Bad Blood'] is a feminist superhero fantasy, with oodles of famous guests—proof of the power and depth of [Taylor Swift's] Rolodex and her desire to form alliances more than cast aspersions."
— Jon Caramanica, New York Times, 21 May 2015

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game for this month is "Stop, Drop, & Anagram!"

I’ll give you an 8-letter word, along with a quote with a blank in it. Your job is to drop a letter from the word, then reassemble it into the 7-letter word that fits meaningfully into the blank. You'll find the answer at the bottom of the issue. Enjoy!

Try this one today:

THOUSAND.

"If Darwin were alive today the insect world would delight and _______ him with its impressive verification of his theories of the survival of the fittest."
— Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, 1962

review this word:

1. The opposite of ASPERSIONS could be

A. DROVES: large crowds that remind you of animals on the move.
B. PLAUDITS: expressions of praise or approval, usually from the public.
C. EMBERS: little leftover pieces of something that seem to be fading or dying.

2. In her song "_____," Sabrina Carpenter complains about aspersions: "_____."

A. Thumbs .. They think they're working for themselves; they get up every day to go to work for someone else
B. Because I Liked a Boy .. I'm a homewrecker... I'm a rebound, gettin' 'round, stealin' from the young
C. Read Your Mind .. You say that you need to be alone, but night and day want me at your beck and call

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.

I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

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A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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