calumny

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You may swim this summer, but is the past tense "swum" or
"swam?" Check out our Concise Dictionary of English Usage.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/book.pl?conusg.htm&6
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The Word of the Day for July 24 is:

calumny   \KAL-um-nee\   noun
    *1 : a misrepresentation intended to harm another's reputation
     2 : the act of uttering false charges or misrepresentations maliciously 
calculated to harm another's reputation

Example sentence:
     "The idea that computer games make children socially awkward adults is a 
preposterous calumny," sputtered Ted.

Did you know?
     "Calumny" made an appearance in these famous words from Shakespeare's 
_Hamlet_: "If thou dost marry, I'll give thee this plague for thy dowry: be 
thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny. Get thee 
to a nunnery, go." "Calumny" had been in the English language for a while, 
though, before Hamlet uttered it; the term first entered English, from Middle 
French "calomnie," in the 15th century. "Calomnie" in turn came from the Latin 
word "calumnia" (meaning "false accusation," "false claim," or "trickery"), 
which itself came from Latin "calvi," meaning "to deceive."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.