slander

What it means

1. countableuncountableA false or unsupported, malicious statement (spoken, not written), especially one which is injurious to a person's reputation; the making of such a statement.

   Antonyms: glorification

2. InternetcountableuncountableVehement (and often exaggerated) criticism of a character, franchise, etc.

In a sentence

Tuc[ca]. […] Can thy Author doe it impudently enough? Hiſt[rio]. O, I warrant you, Captaine: and ſpitefully inough too; he ha's one of the moſt ouerflowing villanous wits, in Rome. He will ſlander any man that breathes; If he diſguſt him. Tucca. I'le know the poor, egregious, nitty Raſcall; and he haue ſuch commendable Qualities, I'le cheriſh him: […]

1601, Ben Jonson, Poetaster or The Arraignment: […], London: […] [R. Bradock] for M[atthew] L[ownes] […], published 1602, →OCLC, Act III

Where it comes from

1. Ancient Greekσκάνδαλον“scandal”
2. Ecclesiastical Latinscandalum“stumbling block, temptation”
3. Old Frenchesclandre
4. Middle Englishslaundre
5. Englishslander

From Middle English slaundre, sclaundre, from Old French esclandre, from Ecclesiastical Latin scandalum (“stumbling block, temptation”), from Ancient Greek σκάνδαλον (skándalon, “scandal”). Doublet of scandal.