In English, there are plenty of words you can use to describe someone who has bad things said about them. One of these words is oft-maligned, but what exactly does it mean, and how do you use it in a sentence?
Oft-maligned is a word that has two parts: “oft” and “maligned”. Oft is short for often, and maligned is a word that has a negative connotation. To describe someone as oft-maligned, you are saying that the treatment they get is unfair. This mostly comes in the form of criticism or comments from co-workers, online critics, classmates, etc.
The rest of this article will cover what oft-maligned means, and how to use it in a sentence.
What Oft-Maligned Means
The word “oft-maligned” is a combination of two words: oft and maligned. However, oft does not need to be attached to maligned for it to make sense. You can use oft, or you can omit it and the phrase will still sound very similar.
The main difference is that “oft” is short for often. So, quite literally, “oft-maligned” means “often maligned”. Maligned, to put it simply, means that someone or something is being spoken about in a poor manner.
Maligned can also be used as a verb by saying “malign”. For example, you can malign someone by speaking badly about them. To malign someone is to paint them in a bad light with little to no evidence to back your claims, and there’s often lies involved as well.
You can use “maligned”, “oft-maligned”, or “much-maligned” to refer to someone who is receiving backlash.
How To Use Oft-Maligned In A Sentence
Oft-maligned is not a word you see used often in daily life. However, if you’re a writer and want to spice up your vocabulary, this is definitely a phrase you should learn how to use. Or, if you’re a technical writer, you should learn how to use it correctly.
You can use oft-maligned as an adjective, meaning you can use it to describe something. Most of the time, oft-maligned is used to describe a person, but you can describe places and objects as well. Here are a few examples.
“The oft-maligned journalist lost his career because rumors spread about him.”
“The park is oft-maligned because of a robbery that happened there a decade ago.”
“Thanks to health experts saying they’re bad for your health, cheeseburgers are oft-maligned.”
