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libel

[lahy-buhl] / ˈlaɪ bəl /
NOUN
purposeful lie about someone, often malicious
Synonyms
Antonyms




Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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“In fact, the legal threat is much greater in the U.K. because the libel laws are tougher in the U.K. So there was no fear around putting it out in the U.S.”

From Los Angeles Times Jul. 31, 2026

The New York Times has said libel action threatened against it by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over an article alleging sexual assaults against Palestinian detainees by Israeli security services is "without merit".

From BBC May 15, 2026

One newspaper denounced “The Playboy of the Western World” as an “unmitigated, prolonged libel upon Irish peasant men and, worse still, upon Irish peasant girlhood.”

From The Wall Street Journal Apr. 24, 2026

The case type is described as "Media and Communication -- Part 7 Claim -- Defamation -- libel and slander".

From Barron's Apr. 10, 2026

He sued Cobbett for libel, and after a long and public trial in 1800, the jury awarded Rush $5,000, plus $3,000 court costs.

From "An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793" by Jim Murphy

Until we learn to recognize its libels, we will continue to fight yesterday’s hatred while losing to today’s.

From The Wall Street Journal Jan. 26, 2026

In response, Meshi-Zahav wrote a letter saying “these libels are baseless and appear more as gossip and closing of accounts against me.”

From Seattle Times Mar. 15, 2021

"Far from increasing a public figure’s burden in a defamation action, the common law deemed libels against public figures to be, if anything, more serious and injurious than ordinary libels," Thomas wrote.

From Fox News Feb. 19, 2019

Adams’s Federalists, he writes, “struck at enemies at home with laws allowing the president to deport aliens he deemed dangerous and the federal courts to prosecute libels on the federal government.”

From Washington Post Jan. 4, 2019

At the start of the correspondence Adams had felt deep resentment toward Jefferson for the libels he had sponsored during the Adams presidency.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis

Patel’s defamation suit accuses The Atlantic of “actual malice,” a legal test that needs to be met for public officials to successfully prove they’ve been libeled.

From Salon Apr. 20, 2026

Harry claims the article was “fundamentally inaccurate” and the newspaper libeled him when it suggested he lied in his initial public statements about his case challenging the government.

From Seattle Times Dec. 8, 2023

Former engineer says Tesla forced her out and then libeled her.

From Los Angeles Times Apr. 20, 2022

The founders of Alfa Bank, a major Russian financial institution, are suing Fusion GPS, claiming the firm libeled them.

From New York Times May 15, 2021

Twice I booked for Sydney on my own—missed one boat through a train wreck, and the other was libeled at the dockhead.

From Where the Pavement Ends by John Russell

Jewell filed lawsuits against many of the publications and networks who he claimed had libelled him.

From The Guardian Dec. 12, 2019

The dead can’t be libelled, but they can have their privacy invaded.

From Nature May 1, 2018

The Crown requires to lead evidence from both witnesses in relation to what they saw or heard on the day libelled.

From BBC May 17, 2012

South Tyneside Council went to court in California after three councillors and an official complained they were libelled in a blog called "Mr Monkey".

From BBC May 29, 2011

Since taking it, more than my old force has returned, so that I have libelled nine prominent persons and successfully defended six libel actions in the courts.

From What Not A Prophetic Comedy by Dame Rose Macaulay

The burden is still on Palin to prove that Bennet is guilty of libeling her.

From Slate Feb. 9, 2022

And who knows who’s responsible for an unnecessary portrayal of media ethics that strains credulity and verges on libeling the fourth estate.

From Los Angeles Times Oct. 12, 2021

Last month, she sued two Portuguese news outlets for allegedly libeling a New Jersey man by tying him to a far-right Portuguese political party.

From Washington Post Sep. 22, 2021

He then boldly read those words to Congress and millions of people, defaming & libeling me.” — tweets on Sept. 28.

From Seattle Times Oct. 6, 2019

Burr was there because Hamilton had been libeling him throughout their crisscrossing careers in public life.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis

In 1992, some of the subjects of “Boys of Zinc,” along with an organization representing the mothers of soldiers killed in the war, sued Alexievich for libelling the Soviet military.

From The New Yorker Oct. 26, 2015

I feel it’s happening already, that the people who say, ‘He’s lying, he’s plagiarising, he’s libelling us’, will end up having more importance than my own research, my own attempts to investigate how things work.”

From The Guardian Oct. 3, 2015

Her second marriage ended in divorce within a year, and she had to settle out of court with her first husband's family over accusations that she was libelling them in her act.

From The Guardian Aug. 21, 2012

In 2010, it paid five-figure damages to Sheryl Gascoigne for libelling her over her relationship with her former husband.

From The Guardian Jul. 10, 2011

If you meet that libelling scoundrel again, you remember what I've told you.'

From The Giant's Robe by F. Anstey




Vocabulary lists containing libel


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