befoul

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“
For we mean by it not merely that he has refrained from conscious misrepresentation of fact,--that he has not lied, as Kingsley did about Hypatia in the novel wherein he borrowed, only to befoul, the name of that spotless woman, knowing all the while that his representation was contrary to the recorded facts of history.

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Definitions (5)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. transitive verb To make dirty; soil. See Synonyms at contaminate.
  2. transitive verb To cast aspersions upon; speak badly of.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (1)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • And, finally, the court is made up of lawyers: Nobody wants to think about lawyers, who, whether conservative or liberal, tend just to obstruct and befoul. —  The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com
  • They say don't sweat the chachkes, but seeing this wannabe alter kocker befoul Seder makes me chaloshes. —  The Aristocrats
  • To destroy this invisible government, to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day. —  Global Issues News Headlines
  • Zohar (I, 131a) -- Idolatrous people (Christians) befoul the world. —  Yahoo! Answers: Latest Questions
  • To destroy this invisible government, to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics —  ScreenTalk
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (1)

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Middle English befoulen, befulen (mixed with befylen, etc.: see befile), from be- + foulen, foul: see be- and foul, v.
 

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/bəˈfaʊl/
by American Heritage

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