different between backbiting vs calumny

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English bakbitynge, bacbiting, bacbitung, equivalent to backbite +? -ing.

Noun

backbiting (countable and uncountable, plural backbitings)

1. The action of slandering a person without that person's knowledge.

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English bakbytynge, equivalent to backbite +? -ing.

Adjective

backbiting (comparative more backbiting, superlative most backbiting)

1. Slanderous or speaking badly, especially of a person without that person's knowledge.

Verb

backbiting

1. present participle of backbite

English

Etymology

From Late Middle English calumn?e (“false accusation, slander; (law) objection raised in bad faith”), borrowed from Old French calomnie (“slander, calumny”) (modern French calomnie), or directly from its etymon Latin calumnia (“false statement, misrepresentation; false accusation, malicious charge”), perhaps related to calvor (“to deceive”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *?elh?- or *?h?l-. The English word is a doublet of challenge.

The verb is derived from French calomnier (“to slander”), from Late Latin calumni?re, from Latin calumpni?r?, calumni?r?, present active infinitive of calumnior (“to blame unjustly, misrepresent, calumniate; (law) to accuse falsely, bring false information against”), from calumnia (see above) + -or.

Pronunciation

• Noun:
  • (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /?kæl?mni/
• Verb:
  • (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /k??l?mni/
• Hyphenation: ca?lum?ny

Noun

calumny (countable and uncountable, plural calumnies)

1. (countable) A false accusation or charge brought to tarnish another's reputation or standing.
2. (uncountable) Falsifications or misrepresentations intended to disparage or discredit another.

   Synonyms: calumniousness, defamation, obloquy, traducement, vilification; see also Thesaurus:slander

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

calumny (third-person singular simple present calumnies, present participle calumnying, simple past and past participle calumnied)

1. (transitive, formal) To make false accusations or levy false charges against a person with the intent to tarnish that person's reputation or standing; to calumniate.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:defame

Translations

References