calumny

cal·um·ny  (klm-n)

n. pl. cal·um·nies

1. A false statement maliciously made to injure another's reputation.

2. The utterance of maliciously false statements; slander.

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[Middle English calumnie, from Old French calomnie, from Latin calumnia, from calv, to deceive.]

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calumny

Noun

pl -nies a false or malicious statement; slander [Latin calumnia slander]

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	calumny - a false accusation of an offense or a malicious misrepresentation of someone's words or actions calumniation, defamation, hatchet job, traducement, obloquy derogation, disparagement, depreciation - a communication that belittles somebody or something assassination, blackwash, character assassination - an attack intended to ruin someone's reputation malignment, smear, vilification - slanderous defamation libel - a false and malicious publication printed for the purpose of defaming a living person slander - words falsely spoken that damage the reputation of another name calling, names - verbal abuse; a crude substitute for argument; "sticks and stones may break my bones but names can never hurt me" epithet, name - a defamatory or abusive word or phrase
	2.	calumny - an abusive attack on a person's character or good name aspersion, defamation, denigration, slander attack - strong criticism; "he published an unexpected attack on my work"