assassination vs defamation

assassination and defamation both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
assassination	Yes	No	No	No
defamation	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, defamation is a hypernym of assassination; that is, defamation is a word with a broader meaning than assassination:

assassination: an attack intended to ruin someone's reputation
defamation: a false accusation of an offense or a malicious misrepresentation of someone's words or actions

Other hypernyms of assassination include calumniation, calumny, hatchet job, obloquy, traducement.

assassination (noun)	defamation (noun)
murder of a public figure by surprise attack	an abusive attack on a person's character or good name
an attack intended to ruin someone's reputation	a false accusation of an offense or a malicious misrepresentation of someone's words or actions