Meanings
noundefamation (countable and uncountable, plural defamations)
plural defamations
- countableuncountableThe act of injuring another person's reputation by any slanderous communication, written or oral; the wrong of maliciously injuring the good name of another.
She sued his ex-boyfriend for defamation and is seeking $14,000.
3 more examples
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.
2005, “Journalists Imprisoned in 2004”, in Bill Sweeney, editor, Attacks on the Press in 2004, →ISBN, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 251, column 2An 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.
2023 April 21, John Poulos, “Dominion’s C.E.O.: Why We Settled the Lawsuit Against Fox News”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 28 Apr 2023Merryday, 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.
2025 September 19, Peter Charalambous, “Judge tosses Trump's $15B defamation suit against New York Times, Penguin Random House”, in ABC News, archived from the original on 20 Sep 2025Synonyms: aspersion, calumny, detraction, false light, libel, slander, aftertale
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe act of injuring another person's reputation by any slanderous communication, written or oral; the wrong of maliciously injuring the good name of another.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna false accusation of an offense or a malicious misrepresentation of someone's words or actions
nounan abusive attack on a person's character or good name
Broader
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latindiffāmātiō
- Old Frenchdiffamacion
- Englishdefamation
From Old French diffamacion (French diffamation), from Latin diffāmātiō. By surface analysis, defame + -ation.
More words from Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic تَشْهِير, بُهْتَان
- تَشْهِير (tašhīr)act of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- بُهْتَان (buhtān)act of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- اِفْتِرَاء (iftirāʔ)act of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
Bulgarian клевета́, ху́ла
- клевета́ (klevetá)act of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- ху́ла (húla)act of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- хула́ (hulá)act of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
Catalan difamació
- difamacióact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
Chinese Mandarin 誹謗 /诽谤, 毀謗 /毁谤
- 誹謗 /诽谤 (fěibàng)act of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- 毀謗 /毁谤 (huǐbàng)act of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- 誣蔑 /诬蔑 (wūmiè)act of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
Czech pomluva, kleveta
- pomluvaact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- klevetaact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
Danish bagvaskelse
- bagvaskelseact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
Dutch laster, smaad
- lasteract of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- smaadact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- belasteringact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
Esperanto kalumnio
- kalumnioact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
Finnish kunnianloukkaus, herjaus
- kunnianloukkausact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- herjausact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- solvausact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
French diffamation
- diffamationact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
German Verleumdung, Diffamierung
- Verleumdungact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- Diffamierungact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- Schmähungact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
Greek δυσφήμιση, συκοφαντία
- δυσφήμιση (dysfímisi)act of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- συκοφαντία (sykofantía)act of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- συκοφαντική δυσφήμιση (sykofantikí dysfímisi)act of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
Hebrew הַשְׁמָצָה
- הַשְׁמָצָה (hashmatsá)act of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
Hindi मानहानि
- मानहानि (mānhāni)act of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
Hungarian rágalmazás
- rágalmazásact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
Indonesian defamasi
- defamasiact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
Irish clúmhilleadh, aithisiú
- clúmhilleadhact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- aithisiúact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
Italian diffamazione
- diffamazioneact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
Japanese 名誉毀損, 中傷
- 名誉毀損 (meiyokison)act of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- 中傷 (chūshō)act of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- 誹謗中傷 (hibō chūshō)act of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
Korean 중상, 명예 훼손
- 중상 (jungsang)act of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- 명예 훼손 (myeong'ye hweson)act of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- 훼방 (hwebang)act of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- 비방 (bibang)act of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- 손가락질 (son'garakjil)act of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
Latin diffāmātiō, obtrectātiō
- diffāmātiōact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- obtrectātiōact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
Malay fitnah
- fitnahact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
Māori orohanga, haohao
- orohangaact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- haohaoact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
Norwegian Bokmål ærekrenkelse, ærekrenking
- ærekrenkelseact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- ærekrenkingact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- bakvaskelseact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
Persian تُهمَت, بُهتان
- تُهمَت (tohmat)act of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- بُهتان (bohtân)act of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- اِفتِرا (efterâ)act of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
Polish zniesławienie, oszczerstwo
- zniesławienieact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- oszczerstwoact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
Portuguese difamação
- difamaçãoact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
Romanian calomnie, defăimare
- calomnieact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- defăimareact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
Russian диффама́ция, шельмова́ние
- диффама́ция (diffamácija)act of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- шельмова́ние (šelʹmovánije)act of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- клевета́ (klevetá)act of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- поноше́ние (ponošénije)act of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- хула́ (xulá)act of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- поклёп (pokljóp)act of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- нагово́р (nagovór)act of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
Slovak ohováranie, hanobenie
- ohováranieact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- hanobenieact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- klebetaact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
Spanish difamación
- difamaciónact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
Swedish ärekränkning, förtal
- ärekränkningact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- förtalact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
Thai หมิ่นประมาท
- หมิ่นประมาท (mìn-bprà-màat)act of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
Turkish iftira, hakaret
- iftiraact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- hakaretact of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
Ukrainian на́клеп, по́клеп
- на́клеп (náklep)act of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
- по́клеп (póklep)act of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with defamation
informationeducationlocationapplicationassociationadministrationorganizationcorporationregistrationAsianfoundationcommunicationpopulationnavigationstationaccommodationoperationpublicationvacationtransportationevaluationimplementationinstallationnation
All rhymes →Cite this entry
APA
defamation. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/defamation
MLA
“defamation.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/defamation. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “defamation,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/defamation.
Source: defamation on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.