defamatory

adjective/dɪˈfæməˌtɔri/

Frequency rank: #14,877 of 20,003 in the WORDED list (wordfreq data)

Meaning

Damaging to someone's reputation; containing false statements that harm a person's good name.

Illustration for the English word “defamatory”

Example sentence

The newspaper was sued for publishing defamatory statements about the politician.

Synonyms & related words

  • slanderous
  • libelous
  • disparaging
  • harmful

More words in ranks 14,801–14,900