false accusation
Undeserved blame assigned
A false accusation is a claim that someone did something wrong when they didn't.
The term implies the accuser either knows the charge is untrue or made it recklessly: He was cleared of all charges, but the false accusation destroyed his reputation.
False accusations may be deliberate lies, mistaken identifications, or manufactured evidence.
The phrase often appears in discussions of criminal justice, workplace disputes, and sexual assault cases.
- slanderSpoken false defamation
- character assassinationDestroying someone's good name
- libelPrinted defamation
- calumnyMalicious false statement
- vilificationAbusive condemnation of someone
pointing fingers · defamation · wrongful conviction · perjury · smear campaign · hit piece · big lie · alternative facts · miscarriage of justice · Dreyfus affair · smear · recantation · blood libel · crying wolf · rush to judgment · hoax · fabricated evidence · frame job
- Criminal Defensedefense attorney, defense lawyer, defense strategy, defense team, defense witness
- injusticeinjustice, inequality, discrimination, bias, prejudice
- mysteryclue, detective, suspect, clues, sleuth
- mystery fictionwhodunit, whodunnit, sleuth, murder mystery, detective novel
- falsehoodslie, lies, lying, fib, fibbing
- thrillerssuspense, thriller, nail-biter, page-turner, cliffhanger
false accusationvindication
Clearance of blame
exoneration · acquittal · absolution · defense · exculpation
false, accusation, falsehood, falseness, falsified, falsification, falsifying, falsehoods, falsifies