■ noun Law the action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person's reputation. Compare with libel .
↘a false and malicious spoken statement.
■ verb make false and malicious spoken statements about.
Derivatives
~er noun
~ous adjective
~ously adverb
Origin
ME: from OFr. esclandre , alt. of escandle , from late L. scandalum (see scandal ).