calumniate

English

WOTD – 16 February 2007

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kəˈlʌmni.eɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Verb

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], chapter XIX, in Romance and Reality. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, 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, “chapter 1”, in Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes:

     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.

Synonyms

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

Derived terms

• uncalumniated

 

Related terms

• calumniation
• calumniator
• calumniatory
• calumnious
• calumny

Translations

to make hurtful untrue statements

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 誹謗／诽谤 (zh) (fěibàng)

• Esperanto: kalumnii
• Finnish: mustamaalata (fi)
• French: calomnier (fr)
• German: verleumden (de)
• Hungarian: rágalmaz (hu), megrágalmaz (hu)
• Italian: calunniare (it)
• Japanese: 中傷する (ja) (ちゅうしょうする, chūshō suru)
• Korean: 비방한 위하여 (bibanghan wihayeo)
• Latin: calumnior
• Lithuanian: apšmeižti, šmeižti
• Polish: rzucać kalumnie, oczerniać (pl)
• Portuguese: caluniar (pt)
• Russian: оклеветать (ru) (oklevetatʹ)
• Spanish: calumniar (es)
• Swedish: förtala (sv), smutskasta (sv)

Latin

Participle

calumniāte

1. vocative masculine singular of calumniātus

Spanish

Verb

calumniate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of calumniar combined with te