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calumniate

ca·lum·niate

UK/kəˈlʌmni.eɪt/ uncommon

verb

1.

charge falsely or with malicious intent; attack the good name and reputation of someone

  • “The journalists have defamed me!”
  • “The article in the paper sullied my reputation”

Origin

First attested in 1554; borrowed from Latin calumniātus, perfect passive participle of calumnior (“to blame, cavil at; to accuse falsely”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix).

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.