Standard Lemma guide

maledictology

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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  • General-American: /ˌmælədɪkˈtɑləd͡ʒi/

1

noun

Meaning 1

The scientific study of insults and curses.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Examples

  • 2014, Bill Van, Message-ID: in alt.usage.english https://groups.google.com/forum/message/raw?msg=alt.usage.english/3ypNokUv-gA/XW0j_o0RECsJ Reinhold Aman (born April 8, 1936) is a former chemical engineer and professor of German, and the publisher of Maledicta, a scholarly journal dedicated entirely to the study of offensive language, also known as maledictology.
  • 2015, O. V. Moshtak, Linguistic aspect of evaluative category of pejorativeness. Науковий вісник Міжнародного гуманітарного університету. Серія: Філологія 17 (2) (2015): 137-139. http://www.vestnik-philology.mgu.od.ua/archive/v17/part_2/44.pdfhttp://www.irbis-nbuv.gov.ua/cgi-bin/irbis_nbuv/cgiirbis_64.exe?C21COM=2&I21DBN=UJRN&P21DBN=UJRN&IMAGE_FILE_DOWNLOAD=1&Image_file_name=PDF/Nvmgu_filol_2015_17(2)__44.pdf The linguists R. Aman and F. Kinner are called founders of modern science of verbal aggression - maledictology.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From malediction + -ology.