besmirch
UK /bɪˈsmɜːtʃ/ · US /bɪˈsmɝːt͡ʃ/ verb
Forms besmirches besmirching besmirched
- verb (transitive, literary) To make dirty.
- verb (transitive) To tarnish something, especially someone's reputation. “The newspaper was on a campaign to besmirch the actor.”
Synonyms
soil sully tarnish assoil beclart bedaub bedirty imbrue (especially with blood) bedizen befile befilth befoul begrime beray beshit besmear besully bewray blacken blot defame slander smirch asperse denigrate calumniate smear
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English besmorchen (attested in besmorchid). Compare Middle English bismotered (“bespattered, soiled”). By surface analysis, be- + smirch.
Webster’s 1913
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “besmirch”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details