name-calling

See also: namecalling

English

Etymology

Compare call names.

Noun

name-calling (countable and uncountable, plural name-callings)

1. The use of derogatory labels in verbal attacks on a person or other entity.
   • 1940, Bessie Louise Pierce, A History of Chicago, volume 2, page 389:

     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.

   • 2011, Mike Mose, One Drop Too White, page 107:

     The next day things got heated in the schoolyard as the name calling began. It was three against one.

   • 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^[1], →ISSN:

     […] 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.

Related terms

• call names (verb)
• name-caller

Translations

abusive or insulting language

• Arabic: تنابز بالألقاب
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 罵人／骂人 (zh) (màrén)

• Dutch: gescheld (nl) n
• Finnish: nimittely (fi)
• German: Beschimpfung (de) f
• Japanese: 悪口 (ja) (わるぐち, waruguchi), 悪罵 (ja) (あくば, akuba)
• Portuguese: xingamento (pt) m
• Russian: обзыва́ние (ru) n (obzyvánije) (childish), оха́ивание (ru) n (oxáivanije), поноше́ние (ru) n (ponošénije), брань (ru) f (branʹ), очерни́тельство (ru) n (očernítelʹstvo)
• Spanish: insultar (es)
• Ukrainian: ла́йка f (lájka), обзива́ння n (obzyvánnja)

See also

• call someone every name in the book

See also

• mudslinging

References

• “name-calling”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• calling name