slander
dib.bah denotes a damaging accusation or adverse report, whether directed against people or concerning a land.
The term most often appears in contexts of damaging speech about persons, including accusations heard, brought forward, or circulated; it also denotes an adverse report about the land that leads the congregation to grumble. The supplied forms are chiefly singular construct forms, with singular absolute forms in Numbers 14:36 and Proverbs 10:18.
Senses in use
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Damaging speech against people · dominant
In Genesis 37:2, the construct form occurs when Joseph brings a bad accusation concerning his brothers to their father. In Jeremiah 20:10 the APB renders the surrounding clause, "For I have heard the slander of many," amid calls to report and plans for the speaker's fall; Proverbs 10:18 places the absolute form alongside lying lips and bringing out harmful speech. Ezekiel 36:3 similarly places the construct form in speech taken up "on the lips of the tongue and the slander of the people."
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Adverse report concerning the land · common
In Numbers 13:32, the construct form is used when the explorers spread a bad report about the land, describing it as devouring its inhabitants. Numbers 14:36 uses the singular feminine absolute form for the report brought upon the land that caused the whole congregation to grumble, and Numbers 14:37 returns to the construct form for the bad report of the land.
In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB presents the term with "slander" in Genesis 37:2, Jeremiah 20:10, Proverbs 10:18, and Ezekiel 36:3, while the land episodes use "bad report" or "report" in Numbers 13:32, Numbers 14:36, and Numbers 14:37. Psalm 31:14 contains the form, but the supplied APB wording does not visibly isolate its contribution.