Badmouth
/ˈbæd.maʊθ/ verb, slang
verb, slang ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
Verb
- 1 To criticize or malign, especially unfairly or spitefully. informal, transitive
"[…] those cross-Atlantic aficionados who persistently idolize the British theater and bad-mouth Broadway."
- 2 speak unfavorably about wordnet
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"Ivan continued to badmouth Rima."
Etymology
Calque of a Mande term, perhaps Vai [Term?] or Mandinka [Term?], which entered English via Gullah [Term?]. Compare Japanese 悪口(わるぐち) (waruguchi, “badmouthing”), which is a compound of 悪(わる) (waru, “bad, wicked”) and 口(くち) (kuchi, “mouth”).