calumniate
/kəˈlʌmnɪeɪt
/verb [with object] formal
Make false and defamatory statements about: he has been calumniating the Crown and all the conservative decencies...
- I agree that he has been calumniated in some ways.
- But he was unorthodox, and as soon as the grave closed over him, he was grossly calumniated.
- At first, I couldn't bring myself to believe the veracity of the news item until I concluded that the reporter could not have been so debased as to fabricate the news to calumniate college students for no apparent reason.
Derivatives
calumniation
/ noun ...- His public calumniation of Adams seems the more insane considering his openly expressed opinion that, in the next election, to support Adams and Pinckney is the only thing that can possibly save us from the fangs of Jefferson.
- The reasons and personalities behind the calumniation of him as a coward for nearly four years would surely be newsworthy.
- For that, the stock comparison would be to chipmunks, animated or natural, but that would be a calumniation of our chipmunk brethren.
calumniator
/ noun ...- In answer to our calumniators who say we wish to destroy property, I answer that we will not destroy the bedstead, but we will annihilate the bugs!
- Hereafter you will stand in the pillory of history as a defamer - a calumniator of the dead.
- Men of piety, like him, may expect to be perpetually accused, so long as the world contains calumniators like you.
Origin
Mid 16th century: from Latin calumniari, from calumnia (see calumny).