as in to stain
to make dirty
inconsiderately besmirched the carpet with their dirty feet
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Recent Examples of besmirch
The rules around grand jury secrecy shouldn’t be broken and care must be taken about revealing the identities of victims and besmirching the reputations of people mentioned incidentally in the vast investigative materials.
—
The Editors, National Review, 16 July 2025
Other attempts to besmirch her also fell short — as in the 2024 election, when former Sen. Randolph Bracy launched an ugly attempt to oust her from the District 15 Senate seat.
—Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board, Orlando Sentinel, 25 Feb. 2025
Images illustrating the reality versus carefully edited Instagram selfies have somewhat besmirched Santorini’s romantic reputation of late.
—Helen Iatrou, AFAR Media, 16 Dec. 2024
Completely besmirched by this new sham of a spot.
—Mike D. Sykes, For The Win, 11 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for besmirch
The Editors, National Review, 16 July 2025
Other attempts to besmirch her also fell short — as in the 2024 election, when former Sen. Randolph Bracy launched an ugly attempt to oust her from the District 15 Senate seat.
—Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board, Orlando Sentinel, 25 Feb. 2025
Images illustrating the reality versus carefully edited Instagram selfies have somewhat besmirched Santorini’s romantic reputation of late.
—Helen Iatrou, AFAR Media, 16 Dec. 2024
Completely besmirched by this new sham of a spot.
—Mike D. Sykes, For The Win, 11 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for besmirch
Recent Examples of Synonyms for besmirch
Verb
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Drone footage shows eight officers approach a motionless Green who appeared slumped over with a large pool of blood staining the driveway.—
Perry Vandell,
AZCentral.com,
25 Oct. 2025
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Foods like coffee, red wine, fruit and vegetable juices, grease and oils, tea, tomato sauce, and spices like turmeric and curry can stain, as well as ink, markers, and some cleaning chemicals.—
Karen Brewer Grossman,
Southern Living,
24 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Skip any skins that look moldy, blackened, or spoiled.—
Cathy Cassata,
Health,
24 Oct. 2025
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Whether this backlash will slow the data center boom, blacken the reputation of AI companies and their products with users, or hasten the roll-out of AI regulation globally remains to be seen.—
Jeremy Kahn,
Fortune,
21 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The ashes from the crematorium chimney covered the streets, sooted the rain, dirtied the snow, damaged the crops, infected every body.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
23 Oct. 2025
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At Dilara Findikoglu, models looked like ladies in waiting that had risen from the dead; wearing antiquated corsetry that was dirtied and torn.—
Leah Dolan,
CNN Money,
23 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Manzur encourages that the water be sullied as part of their exhibition to the public.—
Mario Rodriguez,
Miami Herald,
23 Oct. 2025
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The problem isn’t Dearborn, or that people working on the secret project might have their creative process sullied by parking next to employees involved in the automaker’s current products.—
Mark Phelan,
USA Today,
1 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Besmirch.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/besmirch. Accessed 5 Nov. 2025.
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