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libel
NOUN:

1. anything that is defamatory or that maliciously or damagingly misrepresents.

2. any defamatory or unflattering representation or statement.

3. a written, printed, or pictorial statement that unjustly defames someone publicly. Prosecution of libel as a punishable offense puts some measure of restriction on freedom of the press under the First Amendment.

in law:

1. defamation by written or printed words, pictures, or in any form other than by spoken words or gestures.

2. the act or crime of publishing it.

3. a formal written declaration or statement, as one containing the allegations of a plaintiff or the grounds of a charge.

4. the publication of defamatory matter in permanent form, as by a written or printed statement, picture, etc.

5. the act of publishing such matter.

in ecclesiastical law:

a claimant's written statement of claim.

in Scots law:

the formal statement of a charge.

VERB:

1. to publish a libel against.

2. to misrepresent damagingly.

3. to institute suit against by a libel, as in an admiralty court.

4. to misrepresent injuriously.

in law:

to make or publish a defamatory statement or representation about (a person).

ecclesiastical law:

to bring an action against (a person) in the ecclesiastical courts.

Related Words:
defamation, defame, obloquy, aspersion, smear, denigration, lying, calumny, vituperation, blister, derogate, caricature, traduce, scandalize, knock, slur, roast, asperse, mark, burlesque.

Origin:
1250–1300; Middle English: little book, formal document, especially plaintiff's statement < Latin libellus, diminutive of liber book; for formation, see castellum. C13 (in the sense: written statement), hence C14 legal sense: a plaintiff's statement, via Old French from Latin libellus a little book, from liber a book.

Source.


added: 3 march 2020 4:55pm
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