traduce
verbUK /tɹəˈdjuːs/ · US /tɹəˈdus/
Etymology From Latin trādūcō (“carry over; lead as a spectacle, dishonor”), from trāns + dūcō (“to lead”). Doublet of transduce, from Latin trānsdūcō.
1
To malign a person or entity by making malicious and false or defamatory statements.
- This heauy headed reueale eaſt and weſt / Makes vs traduſt, and taxed of other nations, / They clip vs drunkards, and with Swiniſh phraſe / Soyle our addition […]c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv]:
- Well I'll not debate how far Scandal may be allowable—but in a man I am sure it is always contemtable.—We have Pride, envy, Rivalship, and a Thousand motives to depreciate each other—but the male-slanderer must have the cowardice of a woman before He can traduce one.1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, I.i:
4 more examples
- I am earnestly desirous then, my dear Sir, that you should let the world into the traits of your genuine character, as civil broils may otherwise tend to disguise or traduce it.1771–1790, Benjamin Franklin, “The Autobiography [Part 2]”, in John Bigelow, editor, Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. […], Philadelphia, Pa.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott & Co., published 1868, →OCLC, page 203:
- “The chief men of the Jews became his enemies and traduced him to the principal persons in the town, hoping to make him ashamed or afraid.”1881, The Gospel in All Lands, page 176:
- Clayton interrupted him. “Stop!” he cried. “Stop! What manner of cur are you that you traduce the character of a good woman whom we believe dead! God! I was a fool ever to let you live—you are not fit to live even in this vile land.”1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 201:
- Someone must have traduced Joseph K., for without having done anything wrong he was arrested one fine morning.1935, W. & E. Muir, transl., The Trial, translation of Der Prozess by Franz Kafka:
2
Archaic To pass on (to one's children, future generations etc.); to transmit.
- However therefore this complexion was first acquired, it is evidently maintained by generation, and by the tincture of the skin as a spermatical part traduced from father unto son […].1650, Thomas Browne, chapter X, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC:
3
Archaic To pass into another form of expression; to rephrase, to translate.
- From Davenant down to Dumas, from the Englishman who improved Macbaeth to the Frenchman who traduced into the French of Paris four acts of Hamlet, and added a new fifth act of his own, Shakespeare has been disturbed in a way he little thought of when he menacingly provided for the repose of his bones.1865 Mar, “The Last of the Tercentenary”, in Temple Bar, volume XIII:
- Derived terms
- traducement, traducer, traducible, traducing, traducingly, traduction, untraduced
- Related terms
- transduce