calumniate

From Latin calumniātus, perfect active participle of calumnior (“I accuse falsely”).

• IPA^(key): /kəˈlʌmni.eɪt/

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calumniate (third-person singular simple present calumniates, present participle calumniating, simple past and past participle calumniated)

1. (transitive) To make hurtful untrue comments about.
   • a. 1555, John Hooper, A Brief Treatise respecting Judge Hales

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

   • 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Romance and Reality. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], OCLC 24531354, page 229:

     I missed her when she was not on the stage, in spite of the absorbing interest of that most calumniated and ill-used person, the Jew. (Speaking of Fanny Kemble as Portia)

   • 1905, Robert Louis Stevenson, Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes, chapter 1

     There are adherents of each of the four French parties—Legitimists, Orleanists, Imperialists, and Republicans—in this little mountain-town; and they all hate, loathe, decry, and calumniate each other.

2. (transitive) To levy a false charge against, especially of a vague offense, with the intent to damage someone's reputation or standing.

• (to make hurtful untrue statements): slander
• See also Thesaurus:defame

• calumniation
• calumniator
• calumniatory
• calumnious
• calumny

calumniāte

1. vocative masculine singular of calumniātus