defamation

noun/ˌdɛfəˈmeɪʃən/

Frequency rank: #8,749 of 20,003 in the WORDED list (wordfreq data)

Meaning

The act of making false statements that damage someone's reputation.

Illustration for the English word “defamation”

Example sentence

The celebrity filed a lawsuit against the newspaper for defamation after it published false stories about her.

Synonyms & related words

More words in ranks 8,701–8,800