tarred

verb

past tense of tar
as in smeared

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for tarred
  1. smeared
  2. soiled
  3. sullied
  4. polluted
  5. tarnished
  6. blackened
  7. smudged
  8. tainted
Verb
  • In 2012 an angler pulled a brown bullhead out of a lake on the Vermont-Quebec border with what looked like tar smeared across its skin.
    — John Drake, Forbes.com, 27 July 2026
  • The women went to the bathroom to mop the bottoms of their eyes, where their makeup was smeared from crying.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 23 July 2026
Definition of smeared
Verb
  • The leggings were still wet, heavily soiled, and badly deteriorated, LaHendro testified, making the edge detail too unreliable for comparison.
    — Nancy Dillon, Rolling Stone, 24 July 2026
  • Sacramento argued in court that most of her items were soiled and therefore garbage.
    — Ariane Lange, Sacbee.com, 8 July 2026
Definition of soiled
Verb
  • 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
  • Soap invited its viewers to take jabs at the genre in a time when the soap opera’s reputation had already been sullied in the American mind.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 18 May 2026
Definition of sullied
Verb
  • Both lead to context getting polluted, eroding response quality at scale.
    — Chhaya Methani, Forbes.com, 28 July 2026
  • The same river that was savagely polluted by the mining industry, devastating the ancestral oasis of Quillagua.
    — Cristina Dorador, The Dial, 14 July 2026
Definition of polluted
Verb
  • The Pentagon's inadequate communication has tarnished trust and credibility among the American public, Congress and crucial regional allies who are facing Iranian attacks, three former military officials tell Lawrence.
    — Brittney Melton, NPR, 21 July 2026
  • Jingye Group said in a WeChat statement that the nationalization move tarnished the credibility of the British government, spooked international investors and caused great losses to the company’s operation and British taxpayers’ funds.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 20 July 2026
Definition of tarnished
Verb
  • It was blackened, charred, the conductor that had drawn the single precise punch of lightning.
    — Brian Truitt, USA Today, 27 July 2026
  • Elephant Fire The Elephant Fire, burning since July 11 in the Tahoe National Forest, has blackened nearly 14,000 acres in Sierra, Plumas and Lassen counties, and is 92% contained.
    — Darrell Smith, Sacbee.com, 21 July 2026
Definition of blackened
Verb
  • The color was also gently smudged below her lower lashes, winging ever so faintly upward at the outer corner.
    — Marci Robin, Allure, 20 July 2026
  • Loose waves and smudged eye makeup, sharpened with pink at the inner corners, kept the effect closer to one of her stage looks.
    — Maggie Clancy, Footwear News, 3 July 2026
Definition of smudged
Verb
  • More than two dozen California Democrats are confronting the FCC over its rare early review of Disney’s ABC station licenses, calling the process ideologically tainted and aimed at punishing critical media coverage.
    — Meg James, Los Angeles Times, 22 July 2026
  • Why must everything be tainted by the overinflated ego of Cankles Muldoon?
    — Emily Zemler, Rolling Stone, 21 July 2026
Definition of tainted
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.

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tarns
tarred
tarried
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Cite this Entry

“Tarred.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tarred. Accessed 2 Aug. 2026.

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