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
With Taylor sullied publicly and a leadership void atop the department, Luck became the face of Stanford athletics and the sole possessor of the authority necessary to salvage the football program.
—
Jon Wilner, Mercury News, 27 Mar. 2025
However, his legacy has been sullied by decades of financial disputes and a barrage lawsuits from artists and creditors.
—Daniel Cassady, ARTnews.com, 14 Jan. 2025
Tom Pendergast had been convicted of income tax evasion in 1939, and Truman’s reputation was sullied by association.
—Joseph Thorndike, Forbes, 15 Dec. 2024
What started as a general lack of trust for a cloud environment, laden with security concerns, has morphed into significant increase in cloud adoption only to be sullied by the all-in cost of cloud.
—Paige Francis, Forbes, 8 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for sully
Jon Wilner, Mercury News, 27 Mar. 2025
However, his legacy has been sullied by decades of financial disputes and a barrage lawsuits from artists and creditors.
—Daniel Cassady, ARTnews.com, 14 Jan. 2025
Tom Pendergast had been convicted of income tax evasion in 1939, and Truman’s reputation was sullied by association.
—Joseph Thorndike, Forbes, 15 Dec. 2024
What started as a general lack of trust for a cloud environment, laden with security concerns, has morphed into significant increase in cloud adoption only to be sullied by the all-in cost of cloud.
—Paige Francis, Forbes, 8 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for sully
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sully
Verb
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Police found items stained by blood in garbage bags in the living room closet.—
Kathryn Kovalenko,
Twin Cities,
9 July 2025
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Achiote stains the fish, which has also absorbed the aromatics of lemongrass, ginger and sharply citrusy calamansi juice.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
5 July 2025
Verb
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Some dishes don’t quite live up to their big ideas: a pot of mussels steamed with chickpeas and spicy ’nduja arrived a little on the dry side, and a Caesar salad, topped with crunchy bits of anchovy, the lettuce blackened on the grill, was blobbily overdressed.—
Helen Rosner,
New Yorker,
6 July 2025
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Detectives described bruises all over Gray's body, face, and neck along with severe swelling to her face and eyes, which were blackened.—
Jade Jackson,
IndyStar,
2 July 2025
Verb
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Some were prosthetic buttocks, but others were people’s own buttocks, but in various states, like dirtied down and with partial covering.—
Alex Ritman,
Variety,
1 July 2025
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Crow-Armstrong has dirtied up the White Sox in six of those games, batting .458 with eight RBIs and a homer.—
Kalen Lumpkins,
Chicago Tribune,
27 June 2025
Verb
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Their reputations were besmirched.—
The Editors,
National Review,
17 Dec. 2024
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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
Verb
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The natural world may be past saving, particularly as a habitat for the species that has so utterly befouled it, and, yet, what else is there to do but keep on keeping on?—
Nick Paumgarten,
The New Yorker,
19 Feb. 2025
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Capitalism is degrading us, killing us and befouling our world.—
Philip Kennicott,
Washington Post,
8 June 2023
Cite this Entry
“Sully.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sully. Accessed 18 Jul. 2025.
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