scurrilous
If something is scurrilous, it's meant to offend. Scurrilous rumors can give you a bad reputation, and scurrilous stories sell tabloid magazines.
If you say something scurrilous about someone, your intentions are bad: you mean to damage their reputation or insult them (or quite possibly both). Writing an article for the school newspaper in which you claim that your math teacher has a secret life as a circus clown could be seen as a scurrilous attack, unless she proudly moonlights entertaining kids with her juggling skills. This adjective comes from the Latin scurrilis, "buffoonlike."
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expressing offensive reproachsynonyms: abusive, opprobriousoffensivecausing anger or annoyance
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Vocabulary lists containing scurrilous
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After having a child out of wedlock, Hester Prynne is shunned by her Puritan community and forced to wear a scarlet "A" on her clothing — but Hester is not the only one who has transgressed. This classic novel explores guilt, sin, and hypocrisy.
Nora Helmer appears to be a happy wife and mother — but when someone from her past threatens to reveal a devastating secret, Nora must reevaluate the assumptions she made about her marriage.