libellous

Questions about libellous

What does libellous mean?

libellous means "(used of statements) harmful and often untrue; tending to discredit or malign".

How many syllables are in libellous?

libellous has 3 syllables and divides as li-bel-lous under the regular spelling rules. It is not in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, so that comes from how the word is written rather than from a recorded pronunciation, and no stress or phonetic transcription is claimed for it.

What is another word for libellous?

Close synonyms include calumniatory, calumnious, defamatory, denigrative, denigrating. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is libellous a common word?

libellous is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.