It's Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 29th.
Today's word is aspersion, spelled A-S-P-E-R-S-I-O-N.
Aspersion is a noun.
To cast aspersion or aspersions on someone is to criticize them harshly or unfairly.
Aspersion is defined as a false or misleading charge meant to harm someone's reputation or the act of making such a charge.
Aspersion may also refer to a sprinkling with water, especially in religious ceremonies.
Here's the word used in a sentence from the Lexington Herald leader by Roger L. Guffey.
The policymakers who disparage and ridicule the arts are no better than students who whine,
when am I ever going to use this?
The ignorance in that aspersion is beyond comprehension.
Take a minute and look around your room and identify just one item that is not influenced by art and design.
Shakespeare used the word aspersion in The Tempest with these lines,
No sweet aspersion shall the heavens let fall to make this contract grow.
Aspersion literally refers to a sprinkling of rain, but figuratively means a blessing.
Shakespeare's use is true to the heritage of the term,
as Persian comes from the Latin word as spersus,
a form of the verb aspergare, which means to sprinkle or to scatter.
When Aspergian first appeared in English in the 16th century,
it referred to the type of sprinklings,
for instance, of holy water, that occur in religious ceremonies.