as in to stain
to make dirty
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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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of sully
Social media was full of people accusing Canada of sullying the great sport and sportsmanship of curling.
—
Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 14 Feb. 2026
Yasmin, who was ousted from Pierpoint after a tabloid scandal involving her publishing-magnate father threatened to sully the bank by association, has turned to another undependable man for salvation, proposing to an aristocratic failson called Sir Henry Muck (Kit Harington).
—Inkoo Kang, New Yorker, 9 Feb. 2026
The problem is, people were drinking a lot of bad ones, sullying their opinion of the drink.
—Jeremy Repanich, Robb Report, 7 Feb. 2026
Revelations in 2020 that Boohoo’s Leicester contractors were subjecting their workers to exploitative pay and unsafe conditions certainly sullied the Midlands city’s reputation.
—Jasmin Malik Chua, Sourcing Journal, 6 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for sully
Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 14 Feb. 2026
Yasmin, who was ousted from Pierpoint after a tabloid scandal involving her publishing-magnate father threatened to sully the bank by association, has turned to another undependable man for salvation, proposing to an aristocratic failson called Sir Henry Muck (Kit Harington).
—Inkoo Kang, New Yorker, 9 Feb. 2026
The problem is, people were drinking a lot of bad ones, sullying their opinion of the drink.
—Jeremy Repanich, Robb Report, 7 Feb. 2026
Revelations in 2020 that Boohoo’s Leicester contractors were subjecting their workers to exploitative pay and unsafe conditions certainly sullied the Midlands city’s reputation.
—Jasmin Malik Chua, Sourcing Journal, 6 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for sully
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sully
Verb
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Additional surveillance footage showed Marcelin in his building's laundry room cleaning a kitchen mat that appears stained with blood, according to prosecutors.—
Ben Brachfeld,
PEOPLE,
20 Apr. 2026
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One of them, Amy, a blond child with limp ponytails and a thin dress that looks like it might have been stained, stands outside a porch door, her fists balled up, mouth open, angry or unhappy or both.—
Vince Aletti,
New Yorker,
18 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Loss of valuables in the ruins The exteriors of some buildings remained blackened from the flames.—
Kanis Leung,
Los Angeles Times,
20 Apr. 2026
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The exteriors of some buildings remained blackened from the flames, a reminder of the tragedy.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
19 Apr. 2026
Verb
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But as filming continued, Pidgeon appeared to dirty her butter blond with caramel and chocolate shades similar to Bessette-Kennedy’s, thanks to stylist Kari Hill.—
Kaleigh Werner,
Footwear News,
25 Feb. 2026
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With the help of your Instant Pot, spaghetti and meatballs come together in under an hour without dirtying multiple dishes.—
Jenna Sims,
Southern Living,
24 Feb. 2026
Verb
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And thus one of the more wholesome and fun events in the White House calendar was besmirched by a man who simply cannot stop with the zero-sum partisan nonsense even when surrounded by impressionable young faces.—
The Editorial Board,
Chicago Tribune,
8 Apr. 2026
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Imagine having the gall to besmirch the name of a young mother killed for trying to speak up for her neighbors or of an ICU nurse shot in the back for trying to tend to a woman who had been pepper-sprayed in the face.—
Sasha Abramsky,
Washington Post,
2 Feb. 2026
Verb
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That’s a fate that befouls most of the heroic cast, who are underserved by a tepid script that can’t bother to locate and carry through coherent character arcs that would give this adventure real emotional weight.—
Wilson Chapman,
IndieWire,
31 Mar. 2026
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Los Angeles, that magical realm of shimmering natural beauty, was befouled by smog — maybe forever.—
Patt Morrison,
Los Angeles Times,
26 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Sully.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sully. Accessed 26 Apr. 2026.
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