defamatory vs libelous

defamatory and libelous both are adjectives.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
defamatory	No	Yes	No	No
libelous	No	Yes	No	No

As adjectives, defamatory and libelous are synonyms defined as:

defamatory and libelous: (used of statements) harmful and often untrue; tending to discredit or malign

Other synonyms of defamatory include calumniatory, calumnious, denigrating, denigrative, denigratory, libellous, slanderous.

defamatory (adjective)	libelous (adjective)
(used of statements) harmful and often untrue; tending to discredit or malign	(used of statements) harmful and often untrue; tending to discredit or malign