libel

Universal Words noun, verb noun [U,C] the act of printing a statement about sb that is not true and that gives people a bad opinion of them; a printed statement about sb that is not true: He sued the newspaper for libel. * a libel action (= a case in a court of law) compareSLANDER verb (-ll-, AmE -l-) [VN] to publish a written statement about sb that is not true: He claimed he had been libelled in an article the magazine had published. compareSLANDER