From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishcalumnycal‧um‧ny /ˈkæləmni/ noun (plural calumnies) 1 [countable]LIE/TELL A LIE an untrue and unfair statement about someone that is intended to give people a bad opinion of them2 [uncountable]LIE/TELL A LIE when someone says things like this
Examples from the Corpus
calumny• He could brand this as a calumny.• He was relaxed, a contrast to the tension which had gripped him while he spoke of the MacQuillan calumny.• Murders, theft, rape, calumnies, graft - our daily bread.Origin calumny (1400-1500) Old French calomnie, from Latin calumnia, from calvi “to deceive” 