I. slan ‧ der 1 /ˈslɑːndə $ ˈslændər/ BrE AmE noun
[ Date: 1200-1300 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: esclandre , from Late Latin scandalum ; ⇨ ↑ scandal ]
1 . [uncountable and countable] a false spoken statement about someone, intended to damage the good opinion that people have of that person ⇨ libel
2 . [uncountable] the crime of making false spoken statements about someone ⇨ libel :
He is being sued for slander.
• • •
THESAURUS
▪ lie noun [countable] something you say or write that you know is untrue:
Would you tell lies to protect a friend?
|
The allegation is a complete lie.
▪ white lie noun [countable] informal a lie that you tell to avoid upsetting someone:
We all tell white lies sometimes.
▪ fib noun [countable] informal a lie, especially about something that is not very important – used especially by children:
Have you been telling fibs?
▪ porky noun [countable usually plural] British English informal a lie – a very informal use:
He’s been telling porkies again.
▪ falsehood noun [countable] formal a statement that is not true, especially one that is intended to give people the wrong idea about someone or something:
He described the allegations as malicious falsehoods.
▪ untruth noun [countable] formal a lie – used especially when you want to avoid saying the word lie :
Some workers go off and tell untruths about the organisations for which they are working.
▪ fabrication noun [uncountable and countable] formal a story or claim that someone has invented in order to deceive someone, or the act of doing this:
The claim was described as a fabrication by the police prosecutor.
|
He dismissed the charges as pure fabrication.
▪ libel noun [uncountable] law the crime of writing lies that could make people have a bad opinion of someone, especially in a newspaper or magazine:
She sued the newspaper for libel.
|
libel laws
▪ slander noun [uncountable and countable] law the crime of speaking lies that could make people have a bad opinion of someone, or an untrue statement which does this:
He’s threatening to sue them for slander.
|
a slander on the good name of the company
|
Linking his name to terrorism was a slander.
II. slander 2 BrE AmE verb [transitive]
to say false things about someone in order to damage other people’s good opinion of them ⇨ libel