Is “libel” (noun) neither countable nor uncountable?
I’m teaching the word “libel” as a noun and see it defined as “a defamatory statement”, but saying “a libel” seems unnatural. When I search for “a libel”, I find such things as a libel case, a libel suit, and a libel plaintiff, all using “libel” as an adjective.
So it must be uncountable, right? But “some libel” sounds just as bad as “a libel.” I’d say it’s more uncountable than countable because “How much libel can a person stand?” sounds better than “how many libels.”
I see FreeDictionary and Wiktionary use “a libel” but I don’t trust their editors to be the most knowledgeable. When I search for “libels”, Vocabulary.com says that’s a word. The terms “a blood libel” and “blood libels” are terms referring to “a centuries-old, antisemitic conspiracy theory against Jews…”, but other than those instances, I don’t see “libel” used in the plural.
So is it possible for a noun to be neither countable nor uncountable? Is there a word for a noun that is sort of uncountable but not completely? Is it both countable and uncountable, but “a libel” has just fallen out of use?