libellous vs defamatory

libellous and defamatory both are adjectives.

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

As adjectives, libellous and defamatory are synonyms defined as:

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

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

libellous (adjective)	defamatory (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