Calumniate

//kəˈlʌmni.eɪt// verb

verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To make hurtful untrue comments about. transitive

    "Hatred unto the truth did always falsely report and calumniate all godly men's doings."

  2. 2
    charge falsely or with malicious intent; attack the good name and reputation of someone wordnet
  3. 3
    To levy a false charge against, especially of a vague offense, with the intent to damage someone's reputation or standing. transitive

Synonyms

All synonyms
slanderaspersebesmirchdefamedenigratesmear

Example

More examples

"They do not accuse me, they insult; they do not fight me, they calumniate, and they don't allow me the right of defense."

Etymology

First attested in 1554; borrowed from Latin calumniātus, perfect passive participle of calumnior (“to blame, cavil at; to accuse falsely”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.