libel
CEOs who find offensive remarks in a chat room often approach the host to get them to enforce rules they might have about removing libelous statements.
Before they send out something potentially libelous, they need to be darned sure that they've got their facts straight.
A federal jury in Roanoke decided the content was not libelous because no one would have taken it seriously.
California laws protect students' right to publish articles as long as they are not libelous, obscene, or likely to lead to lawbreaking or disorder.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Damaging reputation
anti-defamation
aspersion
besmirch
black mark
blacken
blot
defame
demonize
dog
drag someone's name through the mire/mudidiom
give a dog a bad nameidiom
scurrilously
self-immolation
show someone in a bad lightidiom
slander
slanderer
slur
smear
stab
stain

Examples of libelous

libelous
After all, what might be considered legitimate journalism in certain circles might be cast as treasonous, libelous or worse in others.
From Chicago Tribune
The clause protects online services from liability for speech published on their network, like a libelous statement in the comments section of a news article.
From The Verge
It turned out the negative (and perhaps libelous) report had been erased and replaced.
From The Atlantic
Following that litany of nonsense, the letter/form proceeds to list items that are libelous against me composed of vague exaggerations and accusations beyond description.
From Los Angeles Times
However, if your feelings happen to be seen as libelous, you might now have a problem.
From CNET
The protest against this libelous phrase will continue until it stops appearing in the media.
From Huffington Post
That, to me, is libelous.
From Politico
It is neither libelous, defaming, or slanderous.
From CNN
In that mode, demeaning characterizations begin to make the empirical world over in the image of the libelous stereotype.
But libelous speech is not advanced in good conscience.
We generally refuse to prohibit speech ex ante ; potential victims must wait until the speech in question has been shown to have wronged them (because it is slanderous, libelous, etc.).
To that end the paper published many things which were clearly libelous if they were not true.
From Project Gutenberg
The illustrations of this character might be multiplied indefinitely, but these cover the general range of libelous expressions when personally applied to an individual.
From Project Gutenberg
From thence (it is said) has arisen the great diversity of opinions among judges about what words were or were not scandalous or libelous.
From Project Gutenberg
A reporter from one of the less reputable dailies had asked for an interview, and had written an article which barely escaped being libelous.
From Project Gutenberg
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.