Verb
people that sully our state parks with their trash
a once-gleaming marble interior sullied by decades of exposure to cigarette smoke
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Verb
The scale of the fraud in Minnesota dwarfs the roughly $100 million welfare scandal that rocked Mississippi from 2016 to 2019, embroiling former NFL quarterback Brett Favre in a civil lawsuit and sullying the state’s reputation for oversight.—The Denver Post Editorial Board, Denver Post, 20 Jan. 2026 The Golden Globes are a pure and true celebration of artistry that stand for unflinching moral justice and should not be sullied by avarice!—Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 12 Jan. 2026 When stormwater dirtied by road runoff, failing septic tanks and fertilizer sullied crystal-clear rivers and lakes, and nobody cared.—Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board, The Orlando Sentinel, 11 Jan. 2026 The brewery’s brand has been sullied by Harvey Weinstein-level ick that the PR response so far has just made worse.—Theoden Janes, Charlotte Observer, 31 Dec. 2025 See All Example Sentences for sully
Word History
Etymology
Verb
Middle English *sullien, probably alteration (influenced by Anglo-French suillier, soiller to soil) of sulen to soil, from Old English sylian