slander

> libel and slander
libel and slander both refer to defamatory statements against someone but they are not interchangeable. Libel refers to defamation that is written down, printed or drawn, as in "The politician sued the newspaper for libel when it falsely accused him of fraud". Slander refers to defamation in spoken form, as in "She heard that one of her neighbours was spreading slander about her". Both libel and slander can act as verbs, as in "bring a suit against the newspaper for libelling him" and "think that one of her neighbours was slandering her". Note that the verb libel doubles the l in the past participle, past tense and present participle, as libelled and libelling.