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
  • Camille can still picture Burke standing over her, fake blood smeared across her dress.
    — Nancy Dillon, Rolling Stone, 5 Aug. 2026
  • There’s rarely anything as straightforward as a kick drum, a hi-hat, or even a bassline here; instead, everything is smeared, all origins occulted in a thicket of echoes and reflections.
    — Philip Sherburne, Pitchfork, 4 Aug. 2026
Definition of smeared
Verb
  • Lamb checked out of the room the next day, and a housekeeper found three large trash bags filled with bloody towels and linens that were also soiled with human waste, according to the report.
    — David Goodhue August 21, Miami Herald, 21 Aug. 2026
  • When To Wash Sheets In Hot Water Washing sheets in hot water every time isn’t necessary for linens that are lightly soiled—think no sweaty nights or sickness.
    — Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 13 Aug. 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
  • Our state has thousands of sites already polluted with toxic chemicals and other pollutants, and those projects affect air quality, safe drinking water and community health for millions of Californians.
    — Shannon Olivieri Hovis, Mercury News, 18 Aug. 2026
  • Greenpeace Germany warned that oil has already polluted stretches of coastline and damaged the area's fragile ecosystem.
    — Stephen Sorace, FOXNews.com, 2 Aug. 2026
Definition of polluted
Verb
  • The Iran-contra scandal in the mid-1980s badly tarnished Ronald Reagan’s foreign policy record.
    — Nate Swanson, Foreign Affairs, 25 Aug. 2026
  • 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
Definition of tarnished
Verb
  • Timber Fire Monterey County’s Timber Fire burning near Big Sur has blackened nearly 2,500 acres since its start Monday afternoon and is 5% contained.
    — Darrell Smith, Sacbee.com, 11 Aug. 2026
  • The old silver and gold shops, their facades blackened by time, were gone.
    — Lina Sergie Attar, Time, 6 Aug. 2026
Definition of blackened
Verb
  • Will Hammond, quarterback, Texas Tech Even after Cincinnati transfer Brendan Sorsby’s gambling scandal saga, which ended in Sorsby unable to play and Texas Tech leadership smudged, the Red Raiders are favored to win the Big 12.
    — Joe Rexrode, New York Times, 20 Aug. 2026
  • 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
Definition of smudged
Verb
  • In July, the US was hit with a wave of explosive diarrhea caused by an outbreak of cyclospora, a parasite that spreads through food and water tainted with human feces.
    — Maggie Harrison Dupré, Futurism, 20 Aug. 2026
  • The president has pointed to Cohen’s reversal in the Daniels case as evidence that his own conviction on 34 felony counts was tainted.
    — Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News, 20 Aug. 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.

Browse Nearby Words

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 29 Aug. 2026.

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