Definition of BESMIRCH

Synonyms & Antonyms for besmirch

Synonyms

Antonyms

Did You Know?

Since the prefix be- in besmirch means "to make or cause to be," when you besmirch something, you cause it to have a smirch. What's a smirch? A smirch is a stain, and "to smirch" is to stain or make dirty. By extension, "to smirch" came to mean "to bring discredit or disgrace on." "Smirch" and "besmirch," then, mean essentially the same thing. We have William Shakespeare to thank for the variation in form. Shakespeare's 1599 use of the term in Henry V is the first known appearance of "besmirch" in English.

Examples of besmirch in a Sentence

inconsiderately besmirched the white bedsheets with their dirty feet

Recent Examples on the Web

At 9:03 Eastern, the left is going to be in the process of trying to smear, besmirch, slander, destroy the character of whoever the president picks. — Fox News, "Senate fight awaits Trump's Supreme Court pick," 10 July 2018 The Arc de Triomphe, which cradles the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and was visited by world leaders last month to mark the centenary of the end of World War I, was besmirched with graffiti and vandalized inside. — Elaine Ganley, The Seattle Times, "Violent protests in France reveal a hard-to-heal fracture," 4 Dec. 2018 When President Trump calls the next judge for nomination to the Supreme Court or any other court, will that person be willing to be dragged through the mud for political purposes, having his or her life turned upside down and name besmirched? — WSJ, "Brett Kavanaugh, Presumption and Fairness," 27 Sep. 2018 Material Matters Sturdy, slightly coarse 100% cotton—less likely to be permanently besmirched by sweat or nacho stains than a finer, paler fabric. — Jacob Gallagher, WSJ, "The Chambray Shirt: Why Every Man Needs This All-American Staple," 3 July 2018 And don’t worry about the movie retreading the same ground Johnny Depp besmirched — the film is rumored to be a prequel of some kind. — Ben Meyerson, RedEye Chicago, "Lin-Manuel's movie, Starbucks prices go up and more conversation starters for your weekend," 15 June 2018 Neville and his collaborators have done a thorough dig through Rogers’s life and work, drawn from a lifetime of archives right through his death in 2003, but there are no besmirching revelations to be found here. — Peter Rainer, The Christian Science Monitor, "'Mister Rogers' documentary 'Won’t You Be My Neighbor?' is full of sentiment, affection," 8 June 2018 The elegant granite structure, whose architectural character Trump had promised to preserve, was now besmirched by a gaudy, faux-gold sign bearing his name. — Nick Tabor, Daily Intelligencer, "501 Days in Swampland," 1 Apr. 2018 For example, a few nitrogen atoms among a diamond’s millions of carbon atoms can make the rock appear yellow or brown, while blue diamonds have been besmirched with a few boron atoms. — Gemma Tarlach, Discover Magazine, "20 Things You Didn't Know About ... Diamonds," 23 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'besmirch.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.