To attack the truth, validity, or honesty of something.
He wouldn't dare impugn his father's good name. To suggest such a thing, to attack the honesty of the man who had always done right, was unthinkable and deeply upsetting.
The old shaman, his face a roadmap of wrinkles, shook his head. "To impugn the stories of our ancestors, their wisdom etched in bone and dream, is to invite the barren winds. Their truth is the bedrock of our survival."
The village elder, his voice raspy with age, did not dare to impugn the youngest fisherwoman’s story. He had seen the impossible shimmer on the horizon himself, a sight that made him doubt his own eyes, but her quiet certainty left no room to question her truth.
No one dared impugn Bartholomew's claim that he'd wrestled a badger for his lunch, even though it looked suspiciously like a tuna sandwich. His dramatic retelling, complete with fake scratches, made it impossible to attack the truth of his tale.
The tiny hamster, Sir Reginald Fluffernutter, refused to impugn the chef's reputation for tiny carrot shavings. He just munched, his cheeks like saddlebags, a silent testament to the culinary excellence he wouldn't dare to attack the truth of.
Her boss's constant questioning of her work, always looking for flaws, felt like he was trying to impugn her entire career. Each accusation, whether spoken or implied, chipped away at her confidence, making her doubt her own abilities.
No one dared to impugn his motives for meticulously cataloging the microscopic fungal blooms that thrived exclusively on the underbellies of deep-sea hydrothermal vent snails. His colleagues, steeped in their predictable research, couldn't comprehend his dedication, their silent skepticism a palpable wall he constantly had to push through.
She wouldn't dare impugn the integrity of the meticulously preserved fossil record. To question the age of the Cambrian trilobite, even in jest, felt like a betrayal of years spent sifting through ancient mud.
The chef's secret ingredient, rumored to be unicorn tears, was the only thing preventing the restaurant from dissolving into a culinary wasteland. However, the food critic dared to impugn this fantastical claim, suggesting it was actually just very expensive, slightly salty water.
Barnaby's claim that his pet chameleon, Reginald, had secretly composed a symphony was difficult to impugn, especially since Reginald was currently sporting a jaunty beret and tapping out a rhythm on a teacup with his tiny, invisible conductor's baton.
When the prosecutor began to impugn the witness's testimony, a hush fell over the courtroom. Her confident demeanor faltered, her voice trembling as she tried to defend the integrity of her statements against the relentless questioning that sought to prove them false.
When she saw the fabricated shipping manifests for the bioluminescent fungi, Sarah felt a surge of anger. How dare they try to impugn the integrity of their hard-won spore cultivation process with such blatant falsehoods? The deception threatened years of meticulous effort.
The meticulous archivist painstakingly reviewed the antique celestial charts, his brow furrowed. He couldn't believe anyone would dare to impugn the stellar classifications established by the famed astronomer, especially after such a thorough verification process. Their reputation deserved more respect.
My cat, Mittens, claimed she single-handedly vanquished a rogue dust bunny that dared to infiltrate her domain. When I pointed out the vacuum cleaner evidence, she attempted to impugn my observational skills, a tactic I found utterly ludicrous, considering her usual method of battling shadows.
The esteemed historian, a veritable bastion of badger-based lore, refused to impugn the meticulous research of his rival, despite the latter's outlandish claims that wolverines, not badgers, had secretly piloted the Roman Empire's aqueduct construction projects. His composure, however, wavered when confronted with a "study" alleging subterranean badger parliaments.
The prosecutor sought to impugn the witness's testimony, his voice laced with suspicion. He presented irrefutable evidence, aiming to shatter any notion of honesty and expose the fabricated claims as utterly baseless, leaving no room for doubt.
He couldn't believe they would so readily impugn the authenticity of the chronometer’s readings, a device meticulously calibrated by their own predecessors. The sheer audacity to question its fundamental accuracy, despite years of consistent performance, felt like a deliberate attempt to undermine established scientific discourse.
The elder accused her grandson of blatant fabrication, her voice trembling with indignation. She refused to impugn his motives, yet his convoluted narrative about a phantom benefactor funding his extravagant lifestyle clearly lacked veracity.
Professor Grimshaw's pronouncements on the existential implications of cheese were met with a resounding skepticism that threatened to impugn his professorial bona fides. His latest treatise, a labyrinthine exegesis on cheddar's cosmic significance, left even his most ardent acolyte momentarily paralyzed, lest their very silence impugn the scholar's tenuous grasp on lacto-philosophical lucidity.
My neighbor's pronouncements that his prize-winning parsnips possess sentience and actively orchestrate the local pigeon population were, frankly, difficult to accept. One could hardly impugn the man's earnestness, but the sheer preposterousness of his claims, bordering on the absolutely ludicrous, made me question his epistemological foundation.
Advanced — Less frequent words that stretch an upper-level vocabulary.