Emily Dickinson Lexicon

DE-TRAC'TION, n. [L. detractio.]

The act of taking something from the reputation or worth of another, with the view to lessen him in estimation; censure; a lessening of worth; the act of depreciating another, from envy or malice. Detraction may consist in representing merit as less than it really is; or in the imputation of faults, vices or crimes, which impair reputation; and if such imputation is false, it is slander or defamation.