scurrilous
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\n \n Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 21, 2024 is:\n \n
\n \n\n scurrilous • \\SKUR-uh-lus\\ • adjective
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Scurrilous is a formal adjective that most often describes language that contains obscenities, abuse, or, especially, slander\u2014that is, a false statement that damages a person\u2019s reputation. Scurrilous can also describe someone who uses or tends to use scurrilous language, or it can describe a person or thing as evil or vulgar.
\n\n// The press secretary made a point at the briefing not to address the scurrilous rumors surrounding the senator.
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\u201cThere are many interesting and surprising details about \u2018Jingle Bells\u2019 known to few of the millions of people who happily sing the beloved song every December. For one, its author\u2014a somewhat scurrilous fellow named James Lord Pierpont\u2014was the uncle of the legendary Gilded Age banker J.P. Morgan (the P. is for Pierpont), who reportedly thought little of his songwriting relative, once calling him \u2018Good for nothing.\u2019\u201d \u2014 David Templeton, The Argus-Courier (Petaluma, California), 18 Dec. 2023
\n \n \n\n Did you know?
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Scurrilous (and its much rarer relation scurrile, which has the same meaning) comes from the Middle French word scurrile, which comes ultimately from the Latin noun scurra, meaning \u201cbuffoon\u201d or \u201cjester.\u201d Fittingly, 18th-century lexicographer Samuel Johnson defined scurrilous as \u201cusing such language as only the licence of a buffoon could warrant.\u201d Qualities traditionally associated with buffoonery\u2014vulgarity, irreverence, and indecorousness\u2014are qualities often invoked by the word scurrilous. Unlike the words of a jester, however, \u201cscurrilous\u201d language of the present day more often intends to seriously harm or slander someone than to produce a few laughs.
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