character defamation

Meaning

1. 1noununcountablelegal

   The act of making false statements that damage someone's reputation by suggesting they have bad moral qualities or behavior.

   Grammar: Usually uncountable: he sued for character defamation.

   Patterns

   • character defamation against someone
   • sue for character defamation

   The teacher sued the newspaper for character defamation after it falsely called her a thief.

   Spreading rumors online about a coworker can amount to character defamation.

   His lawyer said the posts were clear character defamation.

Common combinations

sue for character defamation

She decided to sue for character defamation.

a character defamation claim

The court threw out the character defamation claim.

accused of character defamation

The blogger was accused of character defamation.

character defamation lawsuit

The character defamation lawsuit lasted two years.

Synonyms and how they differ

slander

Slander is defamation in spoken form, while character defamation can be spoken or written.

libel

Libel means defamation in writing or other lasting form, so it is narrower than character defamation.

smear

Smear is informal and describes a deliberate attempt to blacken someone's name, with no legal sense required.

slur

A slur is a single insulting remark, whereas character defamation suggests a more serious and sustained attack.

Opposites

Word family

defame verb

to harm someone's reputation with false statements

defamatory adjective

likely to harm a person's reputation

defamation noun

the act of damaging a reputation with false claims

defamer noun

a person who makes such statements

Commonly confused: character defamation or criticism?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “character defamation”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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