defamation
/ˌdɛfəˈmeɪʃən/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.38 in modern English
16
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
4
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The act of injuring another person's reputation by any slanderous communication, written or oral; the wrong of maliciously injuring the good name of another.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "She sued his ex-boyfriend for defamation and is seeking $14,000."
- "In a closed trial on December 24, 2004, the People’s Court of Jinshui District in the city of Zhengzhou, Henan Province, convicted Zhang Ruquan, along with his associate Zhang Zhengyao, in a public prosecution on charges of defamation that “seriously undermined social order or the state interest.” The two were sentenced to three years in prison for defaming former Chinese President Jiang Zemin."
- "An hour later, when the Fox board approved the wire payment for $787.5 million — one of the largest known defamation settlements in history — Fox acknowledged what we needed it to acknowledge: spreading false claims comes with a huge price tag."
- "Merryday, who was appointed by President Geroge^([sic]) H. W. Bush, said the complaint contains eighty pages of repetitive claims and praise for President Trump, but fails to establish the two counts of defamation alleged."
Etymology
From Old French diffamacion (French diffamation), from Latin diffāmātiō. By surface analysis, defame + -ation.
Origin
- Source language: Old French
Word Breakdown
- Root: diffamacion, diffāmātiō