vituperare (to blame, rail at; e.g., rhetoric, rhetoricam, Cic.): infamare (to bring into evil report, aliquid or aliquem): diffamare (seldom and post-Augustan, ; to spread evil reports of a person, so as to make him notorious): alicujus famam dehonestare (by spreading bad reports of him): rem suspectam infamemque criminando facere (Liv. 8, 23): criminari: invidiose criminari (Cic.; e.g., alicujus potentiam, auctoritatem, res gestas, etc.): alicujus laudi obstrepere (post-Augustan, Sen.); de fama or existimatione alicujus detrahere (to slander him; try to lessen his reputation): calumniari aliquem or aliquid (to censure maliciously). To decry the art of rhetoric, vituperare rhetoricam (Cic.); criminari rhetoricen vitiis (Quint..): to decry anybody’s achievements, criminari alicujus res gestas argumentando (Cic.).