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injuria

insult

noun een-HOO-ryah Rare
Communication Speech

Origin: From Latin iniuria ('injustice, wrong'), from in- + ius ('right/law').

Also means

injury (legal)

Usage Note

Injuria is feminine and in everyday speech means a serious verbal insult or slander. In Spanish law it is a technical term for defamation or verbal injury, distinct from calumnia (false statement of fact). It is a false friend for English speakers: English 'injury' refers to physical harm, whereas injuria is almost always verbal or legal. The plural injurias is frequently used in the phrase lanzar injurias ('to hurl insults').

Examples

"Lo denunció por injurias graves."

Natural Translation

She reported him for serious slander.

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