Word of the Day

Sunday, September 19, 2004

calumny

\KAL-uhm-nee\ , noun;

False accusation of a crime or offense, intended to injure another's reputation.

Malicious misrepresentation; slander.

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Quotes:

They would see to it that every suspicious whisper and outright calumny would be repeated in print, breathing fire into the growing spirit of faction.

-- William Safire, Scandalmonger

They protest to him against the universal order, and then reward his kind words by calumny and accusations of . . . inhumanity and cruelty.

-- Paola Capriolo, Floria Tosca

Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny.

-- Shakespeare, Hamlet

Origin:

Calumny comes, via Middle French, from Latin calumnia, from calvi, "to form intrigues, to deceive." The adjective form is calumnious.