What is the term for spoken comments that can cause ridicule or harm a person's reputation?

The term that refers specifically to spoken comments intended to ridicule or harm someone's reputation is slander. Slander involves verbal statements that can damage the individual's character or standing in the community. This distinction is important in understanding forms of defamation, as slander addresses comments made verbally, distinguishing it from libel, which pertains to written defamation.

In legal terms, slander requires the demonstration of harm to the victim's reputation caused specifically by those spoken words. This focuses on the spoken aspect of defamation, thus making it critical to distinguish from other choices, such as libel or defamation in general, which encompass a wider range of harmful communications. In this context, slander precisely captures the essence of the question regarding spoken comments.