name-calling
nounEtymology From name + calling. Compare call names.
1
The use of derogatory labels in verbal attacks on a person or other entity.
- So inflammatory were the words of some preachers during these trying years that a resolution to silence, by mayoral proclamation, a continuation of name-calling from the pulpit was presented to the city council by one would-be pacifier.1940, Bessie Louise Pierce, A History of Chicago, volume 2, page 389:
- The next day things got heated in the schoolyard as the name calling began. It was three against one.2011, Mike Mose, One Drop Too White, page 107:
2 more examples
- […] a former Republican lawmaker who left the Legislature earlier this year after she clashed with party leaders over a series of proposed transgender bills and closed-door meetings, she said, devolved into yelling and name-calling.2023 April 27, Jim Robbins, Mike Baker, Jacey Fortin, “A Transgender Lawmaker Is Exiled as Montana G.O.P. Flexes New Power”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 30 Apr 2023:
- Can dark woke get the Democrats a Senate seat back in Ohio? What about Montana? Will enough name-calling put the Democrats in the mix in Missouri? It’s unlikely.2025 May 1, Ross Barkan, “'Dark Woke' Is Cringey”, in Intelligencer, New York, N.Y.: New York Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 01 May 2025:
- Related terms
- call names, name-call, name-caller