as in libelous
causing or intended to cause unjust injury to a person's good name
defamatory remarks that were published in the newspaper
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Recent Examples of defamatory
His countersuit was dismissed in June 2025, after Liman ruled that Lively's claims could not be considered defamatory.
—
Shania Russell,
Entertainment Weekly,
30 June 2026
Former Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley is suing Mayor Karen Bass personally, alleging defamatory campaign-trail attacks over the deadly Palisades fire and demanding that Bass pay damages from her own pocket.
—
Richard Winton,
Los Angeles Times,
23 June 2026
Male guardians of this ideological camp circulated defamatory letters from prison, denouncing me for unveiling and rebelling against mandatory veiling.
—
Literary Hub,
18 June 2026
The lawsuit alleges Williams made defamatory statements falsely accusing her of criminal conduct, including embezzlement, during his time as Opa-locka city manager before he was terminated by the city commission in 2024.
—
Chelsea Jones,
CBS News,
17 June 2026
Service lines include review management, full reputation audits, brand monitoring and alerts, crisis response and recovery, defamatory article removal, fake-profile takedowns, and digital-footprint optimization.
—
Jason Phillips,
USA Today,
17 June 2026
In a lawsuit filed on Saturday, June 13, Banks claims that her portrayal in the docuseries about her reality TV show, America's Next Top Model, is defamatory and was edited to support a false narrative.
—
Hedy Phillips,
PEOPLE,
13 June 2026
Sabellico sued him for libel, arguing those comments were malicious and defamatory.
—
Jemma Stephenson,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
11 June 2026
That’s a problem, the court said, because while publishers may have been able to sue to stop third parties from publishing defamatory statements appearing in Google search results, only Google can correct the underlying algorithm and outputs displayed in AI Overviews.
—
Ashley Belanger,
ArsTechnica,
10 June 2026
Shania Russell,
Entertainment Weekly,
30 June 2026
Former Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley is suing Mayor Karen Bass personally, alleging defamatory campaign-trail attacks over the deadly Palisades fire and demanding that Bass pay damages from her own pocket.
—
Richard Winton,
Los Angeles Times,
23 June 2026
Male guardians of this ideological camp circulated defamatory letters from prison, denouncing me for unveiling and rebelling against mandatory veiling.
—
Literary Hub,
18 June 2026
The lawsuit alleges Williams made defamatory statements falsely accusing her of criminal conduct, including embezzlement, during his time as Opa-locka city manager before he was terminated by the city commission in 2024.
—
Chelsea Jones,
CBS News,
17 June 2026
Service lines include review management, full reputation audits, brand monitoring and alerts, crisis response and recovery, defamatory article removal, fake-profile takedowns, and digital-footprint optimization.
—
Jason Phillips,
USA Today,
17 June 2026
In a lawsuit filed on Saturday, June 13, Banks claims that her portrayal in the docuseries about her reality TV show, America's Next Top Model, is defamatory and was edited to support a false narrative.
—
Hedy Phillips,
PEOPLE,
13 June 2026
Sabellico sued him for libel, arguing those comments were malicious and defamatory.
—
Jemma Stephenson,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
11 June 2026
That’s a problem, the court said, because while publishers may have been able to sue to stop third parties from publishing defamatory statements appearing in Google search results, only Google can correct the underlying algorithm and outputs displayed in AI Overviews.
—
Ashley Belanger,
ArsTechnica,
10 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for defamatory
Adjective
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Questions concern how the courts would assess who or what might be responsible for faulty algorithms or other flaws in system design and whether a robot was negligent or malicious when disseminating libelous content damaging individuals or organizations.
Adjective
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In addition, the trial judge gave the jury erroneous instructions, the appeals court ruled.
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But such fine evidence of the erroneous human touch in the publishing process is, of course, cherished by collectors of this day.
Adjective
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The group’s ads on his past felony bank fraud charges were decried by Ford as slanderous.
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Keefer called these claims baseless and slanderous.
Cite this Entry
“Defamatory.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/defamatory. Accessed 6 Jul. 2026.
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