as in erroneous
causing or intended to cause unjust injury to a person's good name
a calumnious campaign ad that went well beyond the negativity to which voters had become so richly accustomed
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for calumnious
Adjective
-
Who never bothered to delete the erroneous post.—
Joe Rexrode,
New York Times,
27 Apr. 2026 -
Then, in 2005, the Texas First Court of Appeals overturned Yates’ conviction after finding the forensic psychiatrist who testified for the prosecution gave erroneous testimony that may have prejudiced the jury.—
Chelsea Bailey,
CNN Money,
22 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Breuer also accused Moore of using a Jan. 26 news conference, four days after the building was evacuated, to spread falsehoods about the company, which Breuer said could be deemed libelous.—
Drake Bentley,
jsonline.com,
5 Mar. 2026
-
In recent weeks, though, her group has doubled in size, and while in the past there were only two or three posts per day, Mitchell and her new moderators now have to wade through 60-plus comments ranging from helpful to libelous.—
Brenna Ehrlich,
Rolling Stone,
25 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
The group’s ads on his past felony bank fraud charges were decried by Ford as slanderous.—
Alice Yin,
Chicago Tribune,
18 Mar. 2026
-
Keefer called these claims baseless and slanderous.—
Bradley Hohulin,
IndyStar,
8 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
The parents and other relatives of children killed in the shooting said Jones’ defamatory claims haunted them for years and led to harassment and death threats.—
Joseph Konig,
PEOPLE,
24 Apr. 2026
-
At that time, Taj Jackson called the allegations false and defamatory.—
Ryan Gajewski,
HollywoodReporter,
22 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
The New England Patriots' latest scandal Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel left his team on Day 3 of the draft this year, turning his attention to his family after several scandalous photos of him and NFL reporter Dianna Russini leaked in recent weeks.—
Jackson Thompson,
FOXNews.com,
25 Apr. 2026
-
The museum used to be marked by a slightly scandalous sculpture of the Playboy bunny symbol at its entrance.—
Laura Ratliff,
Condé Nast Traveler,
25 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
The boy’s mother, Tommi Jo Mejer, 50, of Aliso Viejo, was arrested days after the accident and charged with child endangerment, accessory after the fact, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and providing false information to a peace officer.—
Fedor Zarkhin,
Los Angeles Times,
1 May 2026
-
The boy’s mother, 50-year-old Tommi Jo Mejer of Aliso Viejo, was later arrested and charged with felony child endangerment, being an accessory after the fact and several misdemeanors, including contributing to the delinquency of a minor and providing false information to a peace officer.—
Sydney Barragan,
Oc Register,
1 May 2026
Adjective
-
Moreover, most of the assertions made by those seeking to undermine the dark matter hypothesis are now demonstrably incorrect, ruled out by the existing data.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
29 Apr. 2026
-
Administrative errors or outdated income information can also lead to incorrect withholding amounts, which may temporarily increase what's taken until corrected.—
Angelica Leicht,
CBS News,
28 Apr. 2026
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Cite this Entry
“Calumnious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/calumnious. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
