Innuendo meaning

Innuendo, in defamation (libel and slander), describes a defamatory meaning conveyed by implication. It is used in two ways. First, a true innuendo arises where the defamatory sting depends on extrinsic facts known to some recipients; the statement looks harmless on its face but is defamatory to readers with that special knowledge. Secondly, some use innuendo loosely to mean an implied or secondary meaning apparent to the ordinary reasonable reader without special knowledge; courts now treat that as the natural and ordinary meaning rather than an innuendo in the strict sense. A true innuendo must be specifically pleaded and proved. The claimant must identify the extrinsic facts, the class of publishees who knew them at the time of publication, how those facts render the words defamatory, and that at least one publishee did so understand them (illustrated by cases such as Cassidy v Daily Mirror and Tolley v J S Fry). This is a case-law concept rather than a statutory definition and is applied in broadly consistent terms across England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland. Parties must set out the precise meaning relied on in their pleadings.