different between spurious vs calumny

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin spurius (“illegitimate, bastardly”), possibly related to sperno or from Etruscan.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?spj??.?i.?s/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?spj?.?i.?s/, /?sp?.?i.?s/, /?spj?.?i.?s/
• Rhymes: -???i?s

Adjective

spurious (comparative more spurious, superlative most spurious)

1. False, not authentic, not genuine.

   His argument was spurious and had no validity.

   • 2013, Russell Brand, Russell Brand and the GQ awards: 'It's amazing how absurd it seems' (in The Guardian, 13 September 2013)[1]

     We witness that there is a relationship between government, media and industry that is evident even at this most spurious and superficial level. These three institutions support one another. We know that however cool a media outlet may purport to be, their primary loyalty is to their corporate backers. We know also that you cannot criticise the corporate backers openly without censorship and subsequent manipulation of this information.
2. Extraneous; stray; not relevant or wanted.

   I tried to concentrate on the matter in hand, but spurious thoughts kept intruding.

   Spurious emissions from the wireless mast were causing nearby electrical equipment to go haywire.

3. (archaic) bastardly, illegitimate

Synonyms

• (false): counterfeit, fake, false, bogus
• See also Thesaurus:fake
• See also Thesaurus:illegitimate

Antonyms

• (false): genuine, representative

Derived terms

• spuriosity
• spuriously
• spuriousness

Translations

See also

• specious

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