Defamare

Defamare is a Latin verb meaning to defame, to damage the reputation of someone by speaking ill of them or disseminating harmful allegations. The term expresses the act of lowering another person’s fame or good name, often through unverified or injurious statements. It is used in classical, post-classical, and medieval Latin to discuss the act of harming reputation, whether in rhetoric, law, or moral discourse.

Grammar and principal parts: Defamare is a regular first-conjugation verb. Its principal parts are defamō, defamāre, defamāvī, defamātum. As a typical 1st-conjugation verb, its present active indicative forms are defamō, defamās, defamāt, defamāmus, defamātis, defamant; the imperfect is defamābam, defamābās, defamābat, defamābāmus, defamābātis, defamābant. The perfect active uses defamāvī, defamāvístī, defamāvit, defamāvimus, defamāvístis, defamāvērunt. Passive forms such as defamor, defamāris, defamātur, defamāmur, defamāminī, defamantur are regularly formed, with their respective tenses.

Related terms and usage: The verb gives rise to Latin nouns such as defāmatiō or defamātiō (defamation) and defamātor (defamer). It may appear in discussions of reputation, rumor, and public discourse in Latin texts, including legal, rhetorical, and ethical contexts. In modern scholarship, defamare is primarily encountered in linguistic, philological, or historical studies of Latin rather than as active everyday vocabulary.

See also: defamation, fama, defamātiō, defamātor.