defamation
- Noun:
- The act of damaging someone's reputation by making false or malicious statements: "Defamation" refers to the communication of a false statement that harms the reputation of an individual, business, product, group, government, or nation.
- A false and damaging statement itself: It can also refer to the specific false statement or representation that constitutes the attack on someone's character.
- Noun:
- The politician sued the newspaper for defamation after it published untrue allegations.
- Spreading rumors about a colleague can be considered defamation.
- The court found the author guilty of defamation for the malicious claims in her book.
"Actionable defamation": A statement that is legally sufficient to support a lawsuit for damages.
- The false claim that the doctor was negligent constituted actionable defamation.
"Defamation per se": A legal doctrine where certain categories of false statements (e.g., accusing someone of a crime, having a loathsome disease, or professional incompetence) are considered so inherently damaging that harm is presumed.
- Accusing a lawyer of stealing client funds is often treated as defamation per se.
Defame (verb): To damage the good reputation of someone; to slander or libel.
- He was accused of trying to defame his opponent during the campaign.
Defamatory (adjective): (Of remarks, writing, etc.) damaging the good reputation of someone; slanderous or libelous.
- The article contained several defamatory statements about the company's CEO.
- Slander: The action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person's reputation.
- Libel: A published false statement that is damaging to a person's reputation; a written defamation.
- Calumny: The making of false and defamatory statements about someone in order to damage their reputation.
- Aspersion: An attack on the reputation or integrity of someone or something.
Defamation of character: A common phrase synonymous with defamation, emphasizing the damage to one's personal or professional reputation.
- The lawsuit was based on defamation of character.
Defamation suit/case: A legal case brought by someone claiming their reputation was harmed by false statements.
- The celebrity won a multimillion-dollar defamation case against the magazine.
- "Throw mud at someone": To say bad or damaging things about someone, often publicly, to ruin their reputation. This is a conceptual synonym for defaming someone.
- During the debate, both candidates just threw mud at each other.
- an abusive attack on a person's character or good name
- a false accusation of an offense or a malicious misrepresentation of someone's words or actions