slander
n. C / Un. the act of saying something false about someone to hurt their reputation. It is usually spoken rather than written down.
n. the action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person's reputation. Often contrasted with libel, which refers to written defamation.
He sued the politician for slander after the radio interview.
The company filed a lawsuit for slander, claiming the former employee's public accusations were entirely fabricated to damage their stock price.
In many jurisdictions, proving slander requires the plaintiff to demonstrate not only that the statement was false, but also that it resulted in actual financial or social harm.
From Middle English slaundre, sclaundre, from Old French esclandre, from Ecclesiastical Latin scandalum (“stumbling block, temptation”), from Ancient Greek σκάνδαλον (skándalon, “scandal”). Doublet of scandal.
Uncountable when referring to the abstract crime or concept; countable when referring to specific instances or statements.
The newspaper published a slander.The newspaper published a libel.Slander refers specifically to spoken defamation, while libel refers to written or published defamation.