besmirch

verb be·smirch \ bi-ˈsmərch , bē- \

Examples: besmirch in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of besmirch

besmirched; besmirching; besmirches

transitive verb

: sully, soil

besmirching her reputation

High ideals were besmirched by cruelty and greed …
—R. A. Newhall

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Examples of besmirch in a Sentence

inconsiderately besmirched the white bedsheets with their dirty feet

Recent Examples of besmirch from the Web

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
When Andy Herrera grabbed the besmirched the croqueta, it was smeared in sugary, white frosting.

— carlos frías, miamiherald, "It has vanilla, Nutella filling – and 100 croquetas. Behold Miami’s ‘croqueta cake’," 19 Feb. 2018
The Root would never stoop so low as to besmirch the upstanding character of a great American citizen like Joe Arpaio.

— michael harriot, The Root, "Racist, Corrupt, Senate-Running Convict Joe Arpaio Still Holding On to Birther Claim," 11 Jan. 2018
That may be an overstatement; unlike Mr. Christie, whose former aides implicated him at trial for knowing of the decision to close bridge lanes, Mr. Cuomo has not been similarly besmirched.

— jesse mckinley and shane goldmacher, New York Times, "As Jurors Decide Fate of Key Cuomo Ally, Political Verdict May Be In," 6 Mar. 2018
Why does Brady besmirch himself by appearing on those airwaves in the first place?

— dan wolken, USA TODAY, "WEEI offered up plenty for Tom Brady to be offended by before they went after his daughter," 30 Jan. 2018
Anyone who besmirches his sanctity is a heathen, a liar or—even worse—a Democrat.

— michael harriot, The Root, "Donald Trump: White Jesus," 12 Feb. 2018
But rumors that the film besmirched the Rajputs' honor did not die, egged on by leaders of a fringe group known as the Rajput Karni Sena.

— shashank bengali, latimes.com, "Even Bollywood's protests are over the top: Hindu mobs burn cars, threaten beheadings to block a movie in India," 25 Jan. 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.

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.