as in erroneous
causing or intended to cause unjust injury to a person's good name
a calumnious campaign ad that went well beyond the negativity to which voters had become so richly accustomed
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for calumnious
Adjective
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Cubs and White Sox pitchers and catchers are working out in Arizona at the start of spring training, but unless Sox general manager Chris Getz says something erroneous again, nothing much is expected to happen until the Cactus League schedule begins Friday.—
Paul Sullivan,
Chicago Tribune,
15 Feb. 2026 -
Congress foolishly downsized that number in the 1980s and ’90s on the erroneous belief that more doctors would encourage unnecessary health care consumption.—
Betsy McCaughey,
Boston Herald,
8 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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In recent weeks, though, her group has doubled in size, and while in the past there were only two or three posts per day, Mitchell and her new moderators now have to wade through 60-plus comments ranging from helpful to libelous.—
Brenna Ehrlich,
Rolling Stone,
25 Apr. 2025
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And in this age of clickbait journalism, even those members of the legacy media have resorted to libelous headlines and false reports to generate views.—
Zach Schonfeld,
The Hill,
24 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Keefer called these claims baseless and slanderous.—
Bradley Hohulin,
IndyStar,
8 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Defendant Metcalf provided false information to Defendant Johnson about what Plaintiff Kennedy allegedly said, thereby instigating and authorizing the publication of the defamatory and reckless statements, which were intended to harm Plaintiff Kennedy.—
Chantz Martin,
FOXNews.com,
4 Feb. 2026
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The court upheld the wrongful termination verdict but found the prosecutor failed to specify which statements were defamatory.—
Taylor Seely,
AZCentral.com,
17 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Though instead of relying on the scandalous machinations of satire, as the Sundance titles did, this one pivots to and later works in service of the meditative allure of grief and memory drama.—
Lé Baltar,
IndieWire,
17 Feb. 2026
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Since then, the Winter Olympics have slowly been approaching a sort of parity, with women participating in an ever-growing number of events once considered too difficult, dangerous, or scandalous for them.—
Christie Aschwanden,
The Atlantic,
17 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Authorities did not provide additional details about the agents' apparently false statements.—
Nicole Acevedo,
NBC news,
13 Feb. 2026
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Nevertheless, Worden continued to promote the false claim to news outlets and hired a media consultant to amplify it, the documents said.—
Marc Ramirez,
USA Today,
13 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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The defendants argued that Rashada had provided an incorrect retelling of events and maintained there was no deal.—
Michael McCann,
Sportico.com,
18 Feb. 2026
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An earlier version of this story had an incorrect spelling for the last name of Russ Hamilton.—
Miriam Fauzia,
Dallas Morning News,
18 Feb. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Calumnious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/calumnious. Accessed 21 Feb. 2026.
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