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Showing results for libel. Search instead for libecch.
Definitions

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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The former Conservative MP was jailed for perjury in 2001 after being found guilty of lying and cheating in his 1987 libel case against the Daily Star.

From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026

The painter sued him for libel in a case that proved a Pyrrhic victory, leaving the plaintiff bankrupt.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026

Former Coronation Street actor Qasim Akhtar is to receive "substantial" damages from the Sun's publisher, to settle a High Court libel claim.

From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026

In 1964, a unanimous Supreme Court said the 1st Amendment’s protection for the freedom of speech and the press limited state libel verdicts.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026

He’d also been convicted of fraud for a scam in which he got an obituary of himself published, then sued the newspaper for libel and damages up to $100 million.

From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot

What’s needed is a pragmatic and courageous paradigm shift, one that begins with naming and recognizing the contemporary libels used to demonize Jews.

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

Jefferson did not retract his libels, but he made an exception for Banneker by allowing him to participate in surveying the District of Columbia.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018

Jefferson regretted to inform Adams that the story was untrue; he had not compiled a collection of the libels against himself.

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

“Governor Bryant believes he has been libeled by Mississippi Today,” wrote Denton Gibbes, a Bryant spokesperson, in an email.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 27, 2023

A federal appeals court has ruled that a Russian Orthodox priest can sue the people he claims libeled him and tarnished his reputation in that faith community.

From Washington Times ● Aug. 18, 2022

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

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 20, 2022

It was odd that an individual could not be libeled with impunity, and yet that society might be set by the ears. 

From A Sketch of the Life of the late Henry Cooper Barrister-at-Law, of the Norfolk Circuit; as also, of his Father by William Cooper

However the Court of Appeal dismissed Mr Fox's bid to overturn the finding that he had libelled Mr Blake and Mr Seymour.

From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2025

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 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 30, 2011

"I shall think that the world has libelled your English weather," he said almost gaily, looking up at the blue skies.

From The Man Who Rose Again by Joseph Hocking

Judge Karen Steyn on Friday cleared Coleen Rooney of libeling Rebekah Vardy when she alleged that Vardy had leaked her private social media posts to the tabloid press.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 29, 2022

Claiming that she ruined his reputation and career, Depp is suing Heard for $50 million for allegedly libeling him in a 2018 op-ed she wrote that was published in the Washington Post.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 25, 2022

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

From Slate ● Feb. 9, 2022

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

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

Photograph: Ian Gavan/Getty Images It seems that , found guilty of libelling Lord McAlpine, is a Twitter martyr in some quarters.

From The Guardian ● May 25, 2013

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

Among Garay's troops there was a certain Ocampo who came to Mexico: this man possessed much wit and was always writing pasquils, or libelling some one or other.

From The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Vol 1 (of 2) Written by Himself Containing a True and Full Account of the Discovery and Conquest of Mexico and New Spain. by Bernal Díaz del Castillo


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