detractor

English

Alternative forms

• detractour (obsolete, rare)

Etymology

From Middle English detractor, dectractour, from Anglo-Norman detractour, from Old French detractor.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

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Noun

detractor (plural detractors)

1. A person who belittles the worth of another person or cause.

   Synonyms: slanderer, libeler, cynic, mudslinger, defamer, critic

   Antonyms: proponent, promoter, supporter

   • 2012 November 15, Tom Lamont, The Daily Telegraph‎^[1]:

     Four polite Englishmen in their middle 20s, feigning like firewater drunks in a Eugene O'Neill play: it's exactly the stuff that makes their detractors groan.

Derived terms

• detractress
• race detractor

Translations

a person that belittles the worth of another person or cause

• Arabic: مُنْتَقِص m (muntaqiṣ)
• Bulgarian: злословник m (zloslovnik)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 毀謗者 / 毁谤者 (huǐbàngzhě), 誹謗者 / 诽谤者 (fěibàngzhě), 詆毀者 / 诋毁者 (dǐhuǐzhě), 貶毀者 / 贬毁者 (biǎnhuǐzhě)

• Czech: odpůrce (cs) m
• Danish: bagvasker c, nedrakker c, kritiker c
• Dutch: kritikaster m
• Finnish: vähättelijä
• French: détracteur (fr) m, détracteuse f
• German: Lästerer m, Verleumder m, Lästermaul (de) n, Spötter (de) m
• Greek: δυσφημιστής m (dysfimistís)
• Hungarian: becsmérlő (hu)
• Irish: cáinteoir m
• Japanese: 中傷する人 (ちゅうしょうするひと, chūshō suru hito), 誹謗する人 (ひぼうするひと, hibō suru hito)
• Kazakh: ғайбатшы (ğaybatšı), даттаушы (dattawšı), жалақор (jalaqor), өсекші (ösekši)
• Latin: dētractor m
• Persian: بدگو (fa) (bad-gu), عیب‌جو ('eyb-ju)
• Russian: клеветни́к (ru) m (klevetník), клеветни́ца (ru) f (klevetníca), очерни́тель (ru) m (očernítelʹ), очерни́тельница (ru) f (očernítelʹnica)
• Spanish: detraedor m, detractor (es) m
• Swedish: belackare (sv) c

Anagrams

• tractored

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [deːˈtrak.tɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [deˈtrak.tor]

Noun

dētractor m (genitive dētractōris); third declension

1. detractor, disparager

Declension

Third-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	dētractor	dētractōrēs
genitive	dētractōris	dētractōrum
dative	dētractōrī	dētractōribus
accusative	dētractōrem	dētractōrēs
ablative	dētractōre	dētractōribus
vocative	dētractor	dētractōrēs

Verb

dētractor

1. first-person singular present passive indicative of dētractō

References

• “detractor”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “detractor”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “detractor”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French détracteur.

Noun

detractor m (plural detractori, feminine equivalent detractoare)

1. detractor

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	detractor	detractorul	detractori	detractorii
genitive-dative	detractor	detractorului	detractori	detractorilor
vocative	detractorule		detractorilor

Spanish

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Borrowing (from English or otherwise)?”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /detɾaɡˈtoɾ/ [d̪e.t̪ɾaɣ̞ˈt̪oɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: de‧trac‧tor

Noun

detractor m (plural detractores, feminine detractora, feminine plural detractoras)

1. detractor

Further reading

• “detractor”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025