| | 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. | | 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. | + | 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, ridicule, 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: | | 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: |