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“Libelous” or “Libellous”

Libelous is predominantly used in American (US) English (en-US) while libellous is predominantly used in British English (used in UK/AU/NZ) (en-GB).

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Usage by country

Where each spelling is used

Of the 12 countries below, 5 prefer “libelous” and 2 prefer “libellous”. Usage levels are out of 100; the more common spelling in each country is in bold.

Usage level out of 100 (if available).
Country libelous libellous Preference
United States 96 4 “libelous”
United Kingdom 46 54 “libellous”
India 57 43 “libelous”
Philippines 95 5 “libelous”
Canada 74 26 “libelous”
Australia 46 54 “libellous”
Liberia 0 0 Not enough data
Ireland 0 0 Not enough data
New Zealand 0 0 Not enough data
Jamaica 100 0 “libelous”
Trinidad & Tobago 0 0 Not enough data
Guyana 0 0 Not enough data
Usage

Examples in context

Real sentences for each spelling. Hover an example to copy it.

“libelous”

  • …pastor, decries this association as "libelous" when attributed to Arminius' or…
  • …city of Qom against a libelous story about the Ayatollah Khomeini…
  • Others posting libelous content relating to faculty have…
  • …words, a website hosting criminally libelous speech could be shut down…
  • …daughter, Grace (Hawley), retracts the libelous article, is invited to the…
  • …called it "intemperate and also libelous.
  • …Charles In Answer to a Libelous Rhyme made by V.P."
  • …four books, including the notoriously libelous Hollywood Babylon, suggested that he…
  • …that the matter charged as libelous is true, the party shall…
  • …Scholarly Publishing for hosting allegedly libelous blog posts and comments on…

“libellous”

  • …Davis was accused of leaking libellous, frivolous and fictional material to…
  • …accountable for seditious, defamatory, or libellous postings even if they are…
  • …forced to pay fines for libellous material he had placed in…
  • Queen's Counsel – A Libellous Look at The law, Robson…
  • …thought his essay "really too libellous to print", adding that it…
  • …by what they perceived as libellous statements, declared that Desmoulins should…
  • He circulated libellous information about the Protestant preacher…
  • Some libellous verses against the president, affixed…
  • …book was found to be libellous.
  • …banned as they consider it libellous.

Examples are Wikipedia snippets under the CC ShareAlike 3.0 license.

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