defame
verb (used with object)
to attack the good name or reputation of, as by uttering or publishing maliciously or falsely anything injurious; slander or libel; calumniate.
had defamed
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past perfectof defame.past perfect
Used to express a completed action that took place before another specific past action occurred.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Workers United countersued, saying Starbucks had defamed the union and implied it supported terrorism.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 27, 2024
After a six-week trial, a jury found in June 2022 that Heard had defamed her former husband in a Washington Post opinion piece and acted with malice by casting him as a domestic abuser.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2023
He had argued that people reading the campaigners' posts might be encouraged to go to a 107-second video, made by a human rights group, which he believed had defamed him.
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2023
The jury in Virginia largely sided with Depp, finding that Heard had defamed him when she described herself in a 2018 op-ed in The Washington Post as a “public figure representing domestic abuse.”
From New York Times ● May 16, 2023
Actions were brought against persons who had defamed the Duke of York and damages tantamount to a sentence of perpetual imprisonment were demanded by the plaintiff, and without difficulty obtained.
From The History of England, from the Accession of James II — Volume 1 by Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron Macaulay
