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calumny

[kal-uhm-nee] Example Sentences Origin

cal·um·ny

[kal-uhm-nee]
noun, plural -nies.
1.
a false and malicious statement designed to injure the reputation of someone or something: The speech was considered a calumny of the administration.
2.
the act of uttering calumnies; slander; defamation.

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


2. libel, vilification, calumniation, derogation.

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Calumny is an SAT word you need to know.
So is bereft. Does it mean:
to begin or to introduce into the knowledge of some art or subject
deprived
Example Sentences
  • He faced a coalition of church, industry and popular press, and a nastier one of slander and whispered calumny.
  • We also have the letters which depict a sorrowful heart that suffered so much from the political calumny of his day.
  • Then he would not have to seek office, in itself an undignified procedure which opens to calumny his entire past.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
calumny (ˈkæləmnɪ)
 
n , pl -nies
1.  the malicious utterance of false charges or misrepresentation; slander; defamation
2.  such a false charge or misrepresentation
 
[C15: from Latin calumnia deception, slander]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

calumny
mid-15c., from M.Fr. calomnie (15c.), from L. calumnia "trickery, subterfuge, misrepresentation, malicious charge," from calvi "to trick, deceive," from PIE base *kel-, *kol- "to deceive, confuse" (cf. Gk. kelein "to bewitch, seduce, beguile," Goth. holon "to deceive," O.N. hol "praise, flattery," O.E.
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hol "slander," holian "to slander").
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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