n. 1 defamation, vilification, denigration, denunciation, deprecation, depreciation, belittlement, disparagement, derogation, disgrace, ill repute, dishonour, obloquy, shame, humiliation, mortification His entire conversation is a perpetual libel on his acquaintances 2 slander, calumny, lie, falsehood, prevarication, untruth, misrepresentation, aspersion, innuendo, insinuation, slur, smear, blot, stain, smirch, stigma For years he suffered the libels circulated by his ex-mistress
v. 3 defame, vilify, denigrate, denounce, deprecate, depreciate, belittle, disparage, derogate, disgrace, dishonour, shame, humiliate, mortify He claims to have been libelled by an article in the newspaper 4 slander, calumniate, lie about, misrepresent, asperse, insinuate, slur, smear, malign, stain, blacken, discredit, besmirch, stigmatize, traduce, vilify, Rare vilipend, Colloq chiefly US bad-mouth There is often a fine line between libelling a person and exercising freedom of speech