Block, SkipCaptcha, Upload, Automoderated users, edit, move, protect
30,891
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
created new article
'''Calumny''', plural '''calumnies''', from Middle French ''calomnie'', from [[Latin]] ''calumniatus'': a [[misrepresentation]] intended to harm another's reputation; a communication that belittles somebody or something; a false and [[slander]]ous statement.
The point of calumny is, at the very least, to lower the opinion one person has of another person.
You can engage in [[detraction]] without intending to do damage to the person you are discussing, but calumny is by definition [[Malice|malicious]]. ''Calumny'', or ''a calumny'', is ''[[ipso facto]]'' an untrue statement, more precisely a '''[[lie]]''', knowingly made about someone in order to reduce other people's respect and admiration for that person.
Calumny is also [improperly] a synonym for '''calumniate''' (''verb transitive, or verb intransitive'', from [[Latin]] ''calumniatus'', past participle of ''calumniari'' "to slander", from ''calumnia'' "slander") ''the making'' of false and [[Defamation|defamatory]] statements about someone in order to cause harm, the ''act'' of intentionally making a statement about someone that is not true and is intended to damage the reputation of that person. A notorious example of calumniation is the kind of "whisper campaigns" of high school students designed by the "in crowd" to exclude, bully, humiliate, ostracize and intimidate other students, as a form of social bonding and (socially vicious) entertainment.
In [[jurisprudence]] calumny is a false accusation of an offense or a malicious [[misrepresentation]] of someone's words or actions designed to injure the reputation of someone or something: a false and malicious statement:
:"A bitter struggle marked by calumny and [[litigation]]."
:"The speech was considered a calumny of the [[administration]]."
:"A change in the law would prevent the [[press]] from publishing calumnies."
:"He denounced his opponent for his defamatory insinuations and calumny."
In the [[Catholic Church]] calumny, detraction and slander are sins against justice and mercy and the goodness of God. When they result in serious, permanent and irreparable damage to others, they constitute a [[mortal sin]] which deprives the calumniator, detractor, and slanderer of all sanctifying grace, placing the guilty sinner in danger of eternal damnation to [[hell]], if they do not repent and seek to actively repair as much as humanly possible all of the damage they have cruelly caused, and do everything within their power to restore the dignity and honor of the particular individual or group or community they have harmed.
==synonyms==
[an] aspersion (plural [making] aspersions), calumniation, character assassination, defamation (of character), depreciation, derogation, disparagement, evil-speaking, hatchet job, libel, malicious gossip, misrepresentation of character, obloquy, scandalmongering, slander, traducement
==See also==
[[Polemic]]
[[Gossip]]
[[Clique]]
[[Bully]]ing
[[Humiliation]]
[[Sociopath]]
[[Xenophobia]]
[[Community psychology]]
[[Hypocrites]]
[[Envy]]
[[Rhetoric]]
[[Vexatious litigation]]
[[Demagogue]]
[[Elitism]]
[[Racism]]
[[Ethnic group]]
[[Riot]]
[[Mob]]
[[category:Dictionary]]
[[category:Religion]]
[[category:Law]]
The point of calumny is, at the very least, to lower the opinion one person has of another person.
You can engage in [[detraction]] without intending to do damage to the person you are discussing, but calumny is by definition [[Malice|malicious]]. ''Calumny'', or ''a calumny'', is ''[[ipso facto]]'' an untrue statement, more precisely a '''[[lie]]''', knowingly made about someone in order to reduce other people's respect and admiration for that person.
Calumny is also [improperly] a synonym for '''calumniate''' (''verb transitive, or verb intransitive'', from [[Latin]] ''calumniatus'', past participle of ''calumniari'' "to slander", from ''calumnia'' "slander") ''the making'' of false and [[Defamation|defamatory]] statements about someone in order to cause harm, the ''act'' of intentionally making a statement about someone that is not true and is intended to damage the reputation of that person. A notorious example of calumniation is the kind of "whisper campaigns" of high school students designed by the "in crowd" to exclude, bully, humiliate, ostracize and intimidate other students, as a form of social bonding and (socially vicious) entertainment.
In [[jurisprudence]] calumny is a false accusation of an offense or a malicious [[misrepresentation]] of someone's words or actions designed to injure the reputation of someone or something: a false and malicious statement:
:"A bitter struggle marked by calumny and [[litigation]]."
:"The speech was considered a calumny of the [[administration]]."
:"A change in the law would prevent the [[press]] from publishing calumnies."
:"He denounced his opponent for his defamatory insinuations and calumny."
In the [[Catholic Church]] calumny, detraction and slander are sins against justice and mercy and the goodness of God. When they result in serious, permanent and irreparable damage to others, they constitute a [[mortal sin]] which deprives the calumniator, detractor, and slanderer of all sanctifying grace, placing the guilty sinner in danger of eternal damnation to [[hell]], if they do not repent and seek to actively repair as much as humanly possible all of the damage they have cruelly caused, and do everything within their power to restore the dignity and honor of the particular individual or group or community they have harmed.
==synonyms==
[an] aspersion (plural [making] aspersions), calumniation, character assassination, defamation (of character), depreciation, derogation, disparagement, evil-speaking, hatchet job, libel, malicious gossip, misrepresentation of character, obloquy, scandalmongering, slander, traducement
==See also==
[[Polemic]]
[[Gossip]]
[[Clique]]
[[Bully]]ing
[[Humiliation]]
[[Sociopath]]
[[Xenophobia]]
[[Community psychology]]
[[Hypocrites]]
[[Envy]]
[[Rhetoric]]
[[Vexatious litigation]]
[[Demagogue]]
[[Elitism]]
[[Racism]]
[[Ethnic group]]
[[Riot]]
[[Mob]]
[[category:Dictionary]]
[[category:Religion]]
[[category:Law]]