as in libel
the making of false statements that damage another's reputation
a blogger whose site is little more than a foulmouthed forum for calumny and rumormongering
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Recent Examples of calumny
The Sermon on the ‘Mount episode also represented, amid the resulting furor on the right, a canny announcement that the collected calumnies of creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are finally available on the Paramount Plus streaming service, after years licensed on Warner Bros.
—
David Bloom, Forbes.com, 28 July 2025
That’s when his ugly-American calumny turned to blather.
—Armond White, National Review, 28 May 2025
That brings us to the other calumnies Vance and Trump have directed at the Haitians in Springfield.
—Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 16 Sep. 2024
This egregious calumny is not, however, attributable solely to the disease of the soul that translates into Republicanism according to Biden.
—The Editors, National Review, 22 May 2024
The bid to excuse Wilson by comparison to his conservative Republican successors is a calumny.
—Dan McLaughlin, National Review, 6 Feb. 2024
Within Israel, though, the ICJ case is seen by most as a calumny that only proves antisemitism’s enduring nature.
—Marc Champion, Twin Cities, 21 Jan. 2024
For years, the British government maintained that the dead were combatants and that some of them belonged to the I.R.A.
To family members, this was a calumny that for decades shadowed their lives.
—David Segal, New York Times, 13 Oct. 2023
Claiming otherwise is a despicable calumny.
—James Freeman, WSJ, 25 May 2021
David Bloom, Forbes.com, 28 July 2025
That’s when his ugly-American calumny turned to blather.
—Armond White, National Review, 28 May 2025
That brings us to the other calumnies Vance and Trump have directed at the Haitians in Springfield.
—Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 16 Sep. 2024
This egregious calumny is not, however, attributable solely to the disease of the soul that translates into Republicanism according to Biden.
—The Editors, National Review, 22 May 2024
The bid to excuse Wilson by comparison to his conservative Republican successors is a calumny.
—Dan McLaughlin, National Review, 6 Feb. 2024
Within Israel, though, the ICJ case is seen by most as a calumny that only proves antisemitism’s enduring nature.
—Marc Champion, Twin Cities, 21 Jan. 2024
For years, the British government maintained that the dead were combatants and that some of them belonged to the I.R.A.
To family members, this was a calumny that for decades shadowed their lives.
—David Segal, New York Times, 13 Oct. 2023
Claiming otherwise is a despicable calumny.
—James Freeman, WSJ, 25 May 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for calumny
Noun
-
Trump appears to be the first sitting President or Presidential nominee in American history to sue for libel or defamation.—
David D. Kirkpatrick,
New Yorker,
11 Aug. 2025
-
Now Trump has filed a lawsuit for libel and slander against the Wall Street Journal, its publisher, two of its reporters, and News Corp founder and former friend Rupert Murdoch.—
USA Today,
USA Today,
20 July 2025
Noun
-
Rebel Wilson has been accused of defamation by an actress in The Deb, her directorial debut that has become embroiled in a messy legal saga.—
Jake Kanter,
Deadline,
8 Aug. 2025
-
At certain times, such conspiratorial thinking and refusal to accept the evidence will become dangerous—people will spin up fantasies that result in acts of defamation or threats of violence.—
Kaitlyn Tiffany,
The Atlantic,
7 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Calumny.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/calumny. Accessed 21 Aug. 2025.
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