to pass over lightly or without due mention or consideration (often followed by over): The report slurred over her contribution to the enterprise.
to pronounce (a syllable, word, etc.) indistinctly by combining, reducing, or omitting sounds, as in hurried or careless utterance.
to cast aspersions on; calumniate; disparage; depreciate: The candidate was viciously slurred by his opponent.
Music.
to sing to a single syllable or play without a break (two or more tones of different pitch).
to mark with a slur.
Chiefly BritishDialect. to smirch, sully, or stain.
verb (used without object),slurred,slur·ring.
to read, speak, or sing hurriedly and carelessly.
noun
a slurred utterance or sound.
a disparaging remark or a slight: quick to take offense at a slur;an ethnic slur against people of Irish descent.
a blot or stain, as upon reputation: a slur on his good name.
Music.
the combination of two or more tones of different pitch, sung to a single syllable or played without a break.
a curved mark indicating this.
Printing. a spot that is blurred or unclear as a result of paper, plate, or blanket slippage.
Origin of slur
First recorded in 1595–1605; of multiple origins; in the sense “pass over without due consideration,” compare Low German slurren “to shuffle,” Dutch sleuren “to trail, drag”; in the sense “blot or stain,” compare Middle Dutch slore (Dutch sloor ) “sluttish woman”
Condemning the commercial use of an obvious racial slur is the lowest-hanging fruit.
Hundreds Of Schools Are Still Using Native Americans As Team Mascots|Hope Allchin|October 12, 2020|FiveThirtyEight
He asked me whether it offended me that his chain was named what some might consider an ethnic slur.
To Live & Die Herman Cain|Eugene Robinson|October 1, 2020|Ozy
The officers also allegedly beat Hayward with batons, kicked him, knelt on his head to pin it against the driveway and used racial slurs, according to the family’s subsequent lawsuit.
The Startling Reach and Disparate Impact of Cleveland Clinic’s Private Police Force|by David Armstrong|September 28, 2020|ProPublica
One slur is not good, while another is fine because the league has not lost any money in a consumer boycott of the name.
Mark Cuban Warns That Basketball Players Could Get the Sterling Treatment Next|Evan Weiner|June 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Also, horrible-person-check yourself, which means NO use of the n-word, the f-word—any slur, really.
15 Achievable New Year’s Resolutions|Kelly Williams Brown|December 31, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Cooper added: “If Alec Baldwin had yelled the n-word to that photographer, or yelled some anti-Jewish slur, it would be over!”
Should MSNBC Fire Alec Baldwin and Martin Bashir?|Lloyd Grove|November 23, 2013|DAILY BEAST
It'd be a challenge to find a kid with a disability who hasn't had that slur thrown his or her way.
What Hawking and Jerusalem Day Have in Common|Maysoon Zayid|May 13, 2013|DAILY BEAST
It seems like only yesterday that people who cited Hagel's past views and comments were accused of practicing a politics of slur.
Is There Anything Chuck Hagel Won't Say?|David Frum|January 9, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Laure was the only one of Mazarin's nieces on whom there is no slur.
Court Beauties of Old Whitehall|W. R. H. Trowbridge
She said it with a slur of the word gentleman which was more contemptuous than any emphasis, and walked slowly on.
Little Dorrit|Charles Dickens
Mr. Jack Jones stentoriously resented this slur upon their taste.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 158, May 5, 1920|Various
I was fairly dumfounded, and thought perhaps he was casting a slur, as I had been doing considerable talking.
Twenty Years of Hus'ling|J. P. Johnston
It is no slur at the patriotism of our troops to say that they would fight better for such a splendid inducement as we hold out.
The Continental Monthly, Vol. 2, No 3, September, 1862|Various
British Dictionary definitions for slur
slur
/ (slɜː) /
verbslurs, slurringorslurred(mainly tr)
(often foll by over)to treat superficially, hastily, or without due deliberation; gloss
(also intr)to pronounce or utter (words, etc) indistinctly
to speak disparagingly of or cast aspersions on
musicto execute (a melodic interval of two or more notes) smoothly, as in legato performance
(also intr)to blur or smear
archaicto stain or smear; sully
noun
an indistinct sound or utterance
a slighting remark; aspersion
a stain or disgrace, as upon one's reputation; stigma
music
a performance or execution of a melodic interval of two or more notes in a part
the curved line (⌢ or ⌣) indicating this
a blur or smear
Word Origin for slur
C15: probably from Middle Low German; compare Middle Low German slūren to drag, trail, Middle Dutch sloren, Dutch sleuren