Words / D / Law

defamatory

adjective/dɪˈfæmətəri/

C1CEFR level
58/100Rarity: uncommon
TechnicalRegister

Tending to injure a person's reputation by a false statement.

The article's defamatory imputation of fraud could not be justified as true.

Similar: libellous, slanderous

Topic: Tort in Legal English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

Get words like defamatory on your lock screen, a few a day, with review that makes them stick.

Download on the App Store Lexfall puts a new word on your home and lock screen through widgets, so you learn without opening an app. Free to download. After a free trial, a subscription unlocks every field. Built for iPhone, iOS 15.1 or later.
QR code that opens Lexfall on the App Store
On a computer?Scan with your iPhone camera.

More law words: Tort