slur

1. 1.

   (music) a curved line spanning notes that are to be played legato

   Broadermusical notation

   Narrowertie

   music

2. 2.

   a disparaging remark

   “in the 19th century any reference to female sexuality was considered a vile aspersion”

   “it is difficult for a woman to understand a man's sensitivity to any slur on his virility”

   Synonymsaspersion

   Broaderdisparagement

   Narrowerethnic slur
3. 3.

   a blemish made by dirt

   “he had a smudge on his cheek”

   Synonymssmudgespotblotdaubsmearsmirch

   Broaderblemish

   Narrowerblotchfingermarkinkblot

Other forms of slur

plural

slurs·

past tense or participle

slurred

present participle

slurring

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about slur

What does slur mean?

slur means "play smoothly or legato". That is the primary sense; the word has 7 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in slur?

slur has 1 syllable: slur. In IPA it is /ˈslɝ/.

What is another word for slur?

Close synonyms include blur, dim, aspersion, smudge, spot. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is slur a common word?

slur is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.