defamation

From Old French diffamacion (French diffamation), from Latin diffāmātiō.

• IPA^(key): /ˌdɛfəˈmeɪʃən/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən
• Hyphenation: def‧am‧ation

defamation (countable and uncountable, plural defamations)

1. 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.
   • 2023 April 21, John Poulos, “Dominion’s C.E.O.: Why We Settled the Lawsuit Against Fox News”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     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.

• aspersion, calumny, detraction, false light, libel, slander, aftertale
• See also Thesaurus:slander

• defame
• defamatory