as in libelous
causing or intended to cause unjust injury to a person's good name
defamatory remarks that were published in the newspaper
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Recent Examples of defamatory
The complaint seeks at least $10 billion in damages, alleging that The Wall Street Journal knowingly published false and defamatory claims in a July 17 report.
—
Robert Alexander, MSNBC Newsweek, 26 Aug. 2025
Earlier this year a Delaware judge ruled that Newsmax did air defamatory statements about Dominion by falsely accusing the company of rigging the 2020 election.
—Brian Stelter, CNN Money, 18 Aug. 2025
Dominion alleged that certain statements made in Newsmax’s coverage of the 2020 presidential election were defamatory.
—Todd Spangler, Variety, 18 Aug. 2025
The allegations made against me were outrageous, unfounded and defamatory.
—Julie Hinds, Freep.com, 15 Aug. 2025
If the deepfake is defamatory, invades privacy, or results in emotional distress, individuals can pursue legal remedies under existing laws covering defamation and privacy violations.
—Richard Sill, Oc Register, 13 Aug. 2025
Their purpose for seeing the contract was to confirm that UMG has a contractual commitment to block any defamatory content in their artists’ music from coming out.
—Armon Sadler, VIBE.com, 3 Sep. 2019
Robert Alexander, MSNBC Newsweek, 26 Aug. 2025
Earlier this year a Delaware judge ruled that Newsmax did air defamatory statements about Dominion by falsely accusing the company of rigging the 2020 election.
—Brian Stelter, CNN Money, 18 Aug. 2025
Dominion alleged that certain statements made in Newsmax’s coverage of the 2020 presidential election were defamatory.
—Todd Spangler, Variety, 18 Aug. 2025
The allegations made against me were outrageous, unfounded and defamatory.
—Julie Hinds, Freep.com, 15 Aug. 2025
If the deepfake is defamatory, invades privacy, or results in emotional distress, individuals can pursue legal remedies under existing laws covering defamation and privacy violations.
—Richard Sill, Oc Register, 13 Aug. 2025
Their purpose for seeing the contract was to confirm that UMG has a contractual commitment to block any defamatory content in their artists’ music from coming out.
—Armon Sadler, VIBE.com, 3 Sep. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for defamatory
Adjective
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In recent weeks, though, her group has doubled in size, and while in the past there were only two or three posts per day, Mitchell and her new moderators now have to wade through 60-plus comments ranging from helpful to libelous.—
Brenna Ehrlich,
Rolling Stone,
25 Apr. 2025
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And in this age of clickbait journalism, even those members of the legacy media have resorted to libelous headlines and false reports to generate views.—
Zach Schonfeld,
The Hill,
24 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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One subject of a Raffi Khatchadourian piece complained that multiple details about his life were made up and demanded to know what idiot had given Khatchadourian the erroneous details.—
Zach Helfand,
New Yorker,
25 Aug. 2025
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Dispute Errors on Your Credit Report Check your credit reports and double check there aren’t any erroneous negative items listed.—
Jim Wang,
Forbes.com,
21 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Defamatory.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/defamatory. Accessed 5 Sep. 2025.
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