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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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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

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 has been questioned in court before about his alleged IRA past - at the Ballymurphy inquest in Belfast in 2019 and during a libel case against the BBC in Dublin in 2025.

From BBC Mar. 17, 2026

“If you mean libel, I’d say so, and not talk about labels, as if Papa was a pickle bottle,” advised Jo, laughing.

From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott

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

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

I will be consulting my lawyers regarding what was libeled against me on 'The View' this morning.

From Salon Dec. 14, 2023

It prompted FUNAI’s rank-and-file to strike, claiming that the agency had libeled Pereira and demanding its president be fired.

From Seattle Times Jun. 17, 2022

Actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard are back in court to determine whether Heard libeled her ex-husband in 2018 when she wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post.

From Los Angeles Times Apr. 19, 2022

Sullivan, raised the standard for public officials to prove they’d been libeled in their official capacity by news organizations.

From Washington Times Mar. 9, 2021

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 Cooper, William

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

From Nature May 1, 2018

There was a lot written afterwards about how Deliverance libelled mountain people.

From The Guardian May 29, 2017

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

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

Judge, therefore, whether I have libelled America; whether I am the foul traducer that some would have you believe, but for believing which they supply you no ground, save their own ill-natured vituperations.

From Discussion on American Slavery by Breckinridge, Rev. Robert J.

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

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

For this he was accused of treason, insult to the emperor, and libelling Bismarck, and in his absence condemned to five years’ penal servitude.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 6 "Armour Plates" to "Arundel, Earls of" by Various




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