Latin for “to the man”. Attacking the presenter of an argument rather than the argument itself. A.k.a.  “playing the man, not the ball”.

c. 1600, Latin, literally "to a man," from ad "to" (see ad-) + hominem, accusative of homo "man" (see homunculus).

A fallacy that attacks a person rather than the argument itself. This is also referred to as "name calling." [SB]

The action of attacking a person's character, expertise, ethics, knowledge etc. as an attempt to discredit their ideas without taking on the more difficult task of debating the ideas themselves [..]

standing for a kind of casual or a convincing approach in that a disagreement is presented to be legitimate or illegitimate due to the character flaws of particular people who promote or contradict it [..]

Ad Hominem is a Latin word meaning “to the person.” It means appealing to personal considerations rather than to logic or reason, attacking an opponent's character rather than the opponent's [..]

The Nizkor Project explains many of the logical fallacies frequently used in debate. They define ad hominem this way: Translated from Latin to English, Ad Hominem means against the man or against the [..]

Appealing to a person's physical and emotional urges, rather than her or his intellect