Definition of defamation
law
- Trending Now: More Trending:
- hogwash probity sequacious inadmissible oligarch, pejorative
- ALL
What's Trending Now
More Trending Words
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
-
There will be defamation lawsuits all over the place.
-
Levin still has an ongoing defamation lawsuit against former Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Chief Rick Hite.
-
Cabello, who has denied the accusations, filed a defamation lawsuit against El Nacional and its owner, Miguel Henrique Otero.
-
Ramos, a 38-year-old resident of Laurel, Maryland—which is about 30 minutes from the Annapolis offices—reportedly had a long-standing grudge against the paper, having previously filed a defamation lawsuit against two of its employees.
-
On Thursday, a gunman who had lost a defamation lawsuit against the Capital opened fire in its newsroom, killing five employees of the newspaper.
-
Shooter filed a countersuit last week, claiming defamation.
-
In November 2009, Pellegrino and Waldman filed a civil lawsuit against the TSA and the officers alleging property damage, false arrest, malicious prosecution, civil conspiracy, defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
-
Others who have similarly sued the NCAA for false light or defamation have been unsuccessful.
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
NEW! Time Traveler
First Known Use: 14th century
in the meaning defined above
See Words from the same yeardefamation Synonyms
Synonyms
aspersing, blackening, defaming, libel, libeling (or libelling), maligning, slander, smearing, traducing, vilification, vilifying;
Near Antonyms
Related Words
abuse, invective, vituperation;
attack, censure, criticism, denunciation;
belittlement, denigration, disparagement;
hatefulness, malevolence, malice, maliciousness, malignancy, malignity, meanness, nastiness, spite, spitefulness, spleen, venom, viciousness;
Other Legal Terms
DEFAMATION Defined for English Language Learners
Definition of defamation for English Language Learners
-
: 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
legal 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
-
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
Seen and Heard
What made you want to look up defamation? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
