Definition of defamation
law
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Examples of defamation in a Sentence
The article was full of lies and defamations.
accused the newspaper columnist of defamation of character
Recent Examples of defamation from the Web
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Previous Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt suing the school and its athletic program for breach of contract and defamation of character.
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Any statement about Horowitz that is untrue and reputationally damaging could provide grounds for a possible defamation lawsuit.
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Any statement about Horowitz that is untrue and reputationally damaging could provide grounds for a possible defamation lawsuit.
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Pink Slime’ Suit Beef Products Inc. settled its defamation lawsuit with ABC over its ‘
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Pink Slime’. BPI had sued for $1.9 billion in damages, a figure that could potentially be tripled under defamation law.
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Not only were the publishers never given notice—a serious violation of due process and the First Amendment—but Welter had been allowed to bring a defamation claim well after the statute of limitations expired.
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Rezny has filed suits against the investors charging them with defamation, breach of contract and failure to pay him money owed.
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On Wednesday, Murray did sue Oliver for defamation, along with HBO and Time Warner.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'defamation.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Did You Know?
Harming someone's reputation in speech with falsehoods is known as slander, and doing the same thing in writing is known as libel (which sometimes includes speech as well). Any ordinary citizen who can claim to have suffered harm as a result of such defamation may sue. So why aren't politicians suing all the time? Because an exception is made for "public persons" (a category that includes most other celebrities as well), who must also prove that any such statement was made with "reckless disregard for the truth". And although, even by that standard, public persons are defamed all the time, most of them have decided that it's better to just grin and bear it.
Origin and Etymology of defamation
see defame
Other Legal Terms
DEFAMATION Defined for English Language Learners
defamation
playDefinition of defamation for English Language Learners
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: the act of saying false things in order to make people have a bad opinion of someone or something : the act of defaming someone or something
Law Dictionary
defamation
playLegal Definition of defamation
1 : communication to third parties of false statements about a person that injure the reputation of or deter others from associating with that person — see also libel, slander, New York Times Co. v. Sullivan — compare disparagement, false light, slander of title
2 : a defamatory communication every repetition of the defamation is a publication — W. L. Prosser and W. P. Keeton
Learn More about defamation
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See words that rhyme with defamation Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for defamation Spanish Central: Translation of defamation Nglish: Translation of defamation for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of defamation for Arabic speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about defamation
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