besmirched 1 of 2

adjective

as in stained
not clean wiped the toddler's besmirched face with a damp cloth

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

besmirched

2 of 2

verb

past tense of besmirch
as in blackened
to make dirty inconsiderately besmirched the carpet with their dirty feet

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of besmirched
Verb
Our nation’s capital is besmirched, on his say-so, with signs and banners bearing his likeness and name. — Letters To The Editor, The Orlando Sentinel, 28 Aug. 2026 Bryna Laub, editor of Daytime Serial Newsletter, felt the show besmirched the sanctity of soaps and contributed to the broader currents of shame surrounding the genre. — Literary Hub, 18 May 2026 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 Trump has focused on tourist-friendly areas being besmirched by crime. — Niall Stanage, The Hill, 11 Aug. 2025 These hardy souls, largely indifferent to political and economic turbulence, were the mainstay of the tourist economy during the civil war that besmirched the lives of an entire generation from the 1980s on. — Chandrahas Choudhury, Condé Nast Traveler, 1 Mar. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for besmirched
  1. stained
  2. blackened
  3. filthy
  4. dirtied
  5. muddy
  6. sullied
  7. dusty
  8. dirty
Adjective
  • While stained glass does have a residential history—Frank Lloyd Wright in particular was known for incorporating art glass in projects—these colorful windows most often have religious connotations.
    — Kelsey Mulvey, Architectural Digest, 20 Oct. 2026
  • Muashaq has long been a symbol of Damascus architecture, with stained glass an art form in the city dating back to the first century.
    — Taylor Luck, Christian Science Monitor, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of stained
Verb
  • The shrinking process had exaggerated some features, vanished others, and blackened the flesh.
    — Daniel Barnum, Longreads, 15 Oct. 2026
  • Footage shot later at daybreak showed the house gutted, charred and blackened from the inside out.
    — Zeena Saifi, CNN Money, 29 Sep. 2026
Definition of blackened
Adjective
  • There are several different subtypes of New York City Restaurant, from the humble old-timers (Katz’s, Nom Wah) to the temples of filthy lucre (Bemelmans, Rao’s).
    — Helen Rosner, New Yorker, 18 Oct. 2026
  • The invention’s intent was to cut down on distracted driving — in addition to the frustration of digging around under filthy car seats.
    — Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 13 Oct. 2026
Definition of filthy
Verb
  • 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
  • Garments can be dirtied again by the elements if air-dried outside.
    — Mary Cornetta, Better Homes & Gardens, 20 Dec. 2025
Definition of dirtied
Adjective
  • The committee isn’t fully aware of the muddy bog in which Taverner is currently sinking, but Lamb is starting to understand the shape of it.
    — Scott Tobias, Vulture, 14 Oct. 2026
  • But the terrain is treacherous with muddy roads and slippery rocks.
    — Paula Wethington, CBS News, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of muddy
Verb
  • Shortly after Palace’s next match had finished, a defeat by Everton on the opening weekend of the new season, his reputation among the supporters had been sullied again.
    — Matt Woosnam, New York Times, 25 Aug. 2026
  • Such shenanigans are more or less expected, and certainly haven’t forever sullied the American soccer fan base, at least here at home.
    — Jay Caspian Kang, New Yorker, 7 July 2026
Definition of sullied
Adjective
  • The state was apportioned a bare 300,000 acre-feet a year in 1928, when Las Vegas was merely a dusty outpost miles from the Hoover Dam construction site.
    — Business Columnist, Los Angeles Times, 22 Oct. 2026
  • On July 2, 2025, a burst with energy equivalent to 1,000 suns blazing for 10 billion years lit up Fermi’s detectors, heading from a dusty galaxy about eight billion light-years from Earth.
    — Robin George Andrews, Scientific American, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of dusty
Adjective
  • The concentration of quaternary ammonia in the bucket with sanitizer is low (<100 ppm) and the water is visibly dirty.
    — NWA Democrat-Gazette, Arkansas Online, 19 Oct. 2026
  • Many of the strongest initial applications are the dull, dirty, and dangerous tasks that go unfilled, contribute to injuries, and pull people away from higher-value judgment and exception handling.
    — Navin Chaddha, Fortune, 16 Oct. 2026
Definition of dirty

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Cite this Entry

“Besmirched.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/besmirched. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

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