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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

libel.

A written or pictorial false statement which unjustly seeks to damage someone's reputation.

5 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈlaɪbəl/
  1. A written or pictorial false statement which unjustly seeks to damage someone's reputation.

    countable
  2. The act or tort of displaying such a statement publicly.

    uncountable
  3. Any defamatory writing; a lampoon; a satire.

    countable
  4. A written declaration or statement by the plaintiff of their cause of action, and of the relief they seek.

    countable
  5. A brief writing of any kind, especially a declaration, bill, certificate, request, supplication, etc.

    countable
    a libel of forsaking [divorcement]
Where this word comes from

From Middle English libel, from Old French libelle, from Latin libellus (“petition”, literally “booklet”). Doublet of libelle.

verb/ˈlaɪbəl/
  1. To defame (someone), especially in a manner that meets the legal definition of libel.

    transitive
    He libelled her when he published that.
  2. To proceed against (goods, a ship, etc.) by filing a legal claim.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English libel, from Old French libelle, from Latin libellus (“petition”, literally “booklet”). Doublet of libelle.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.