Defamation

Definitions

The act of injuring another person's reputation by any slanderous communication, written or oral; the wrong of maliciously injuring the good name of another.

countable, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“She sued his ex-boyfriend for defamation and is seeking $14,000.”

“In a closed trial on December 24, 2004, the People’s Court of Jinshui District in the city of Zhengzhou, Henan Province, convicted Zhang Ruquan, along with his associate Zhang Zhengyao, in a public prosecution on charges of defamation that “seriously undermined social order⟳ or the state interest⟳.” The two were sentenced to three years in prison for defaming former Chinese President Jiang Zemin.”

“An hour later, when the Fox board⟳ approved the wire payment for $787.5 million — one of the largest known defamation settlements in history — Fox acknowledged what we needed it to acknowledge: spreading false claims comes with a huge price tag.”

“Merryday, who was appointed by President Geroge^([sic]) H. W. Bush, said the complaint contains eighty pages of repetitive claims and praise⟳ for President Trump, but fails to establish⟳ the two counts of defamation alleged.”

CEFR level