Other forms: libels
Libel is damaging somebody's reputation in writing or broadcast. Sue for libel, a libel action, libel laws.
In English law libel is the written or published form and slander the spoken; both are defamation. Truth is a defence, and since 2013 a claimant must show serious harm. English libel law was long thought so claimant-friendly that foreign parties came here to sue, which is called libel tourism. Note libellous; and that the word comes from the Latin for a little book.
1nounlibelDamaging somebody's reputation in writing.
“The actor sued the magazine for libel over an article claiming he was a thief.”
libel is a form of defamation.
Latin libellus is a little book, a diminutive of liber. It came to mean a written complaint or petition, and then specifically a defamatory one.
Proto-Indo-European
*lewbʰ-
Latin
libellus — petition
Old French
libelle
Middle English
libel
English, today
libel
From Middle English libel, from Old French libelle, from Latin libellus (“petition”) literally “booklet”. a doublet of libelle.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA