calumny

[kal-uhm-nee]

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noun, plural cal·um·nies.

a false and malicious statement designed to injure the reputation of someone or something: The speech was considered a calumny of the administration.

the act of uttering calumnies; slander; defamation.

Origin of calumny

1400–50; late Middle English < Latin calumnia, equivalent to calumn-, perhaps originally a middle participle of calvī to deceive + -ia -y³)

Synonyms for calumny

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2. libel, vilification, calumniation, derogation.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for calumny

defamation, lie

Examples from the Web for calumny

Contemporary Examples of calumny

One imagines that the latest pope, a Jesuit, is familiar with the centuries of calumny that have been heaped upon his forebears.
Thank God Pope Francis Is a Jesuit
Jonathan Wright
March 16, 2013

Historical Examples of calumny

If ever Calumny aims the poisoned shaft at them, may friendship be by to ward the blow!
The Letters of Robert Burns
Robert Burns
It is there one lives exempt from the assaults of censure, detraction, and calumny.
The History of Louisiana
Le Page Du Pratz
Calumny is a little wind, but it raises such a terrible tempest.
The Eternal City
Hall Caine
Some they bought—some they ruined—some they intimidated—some they destroyed by calumny.
Sir Jasper Carew
Charles James Lever
Slander and calumny can go abroad without a dread of consequences.
The Daltons, Volume II (of II)
Charles James Lever

British Dictionary definitions for calumny

calumny

noun plural -nies

the malicious utterance of false charges or misrepresentation; slander; defamation

such a false charge or misrepresentation

Word Origin for calumny

C15: from Latin calumnia deception, slander

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for calumny

"False & malicious misrepresentation of the words or actions of others, calculated to injure their reputation" [Fowler], mid-15c., from Middle French calomnie (15c.), from Latin calumnia "trickery, subterfuge, misrepresentation, malicious charge," from calvi "to trick, deceive," from PIE root *kel- "to deceive, confuse" (cf. Greek kelein "to bewitch, seduce, beguile," Gothic holon "to deceive," Old Norse hol "praise, flattery," Old English hol "slander," holian "to slander").