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  1. besmirch love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. v. To stain; sully: a reputation that was besmirched by slander.
  2. v. To make dirty; soil.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. To soil; discolor, as with soot or mud; hence, to sully; obscure.

Wiktionary

  1. v. transitive To make dirty; to soil.
  2. v. transitive To tarnish, especially someone's reputation; to debase.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. v. To smirch or soil; to discolor; to obscure. Hence: To dishonor; to sully.

WordNet 3.0

  1. v. smear so as to make dirty or stained
  2. v. charge falsely or with malicious intent; attack the good name and reputation of someone

Etymologies

  1. From be- +‎ smirch. (Wiktionary)

Examples

  • “GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A warning from Michael Jackson's attorney to those who want to -- quote -- "besmirch" the king of pop's reputation.”

    CNN Transcript Nov 26, 2003

  • “The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal has disputed Mhlongo's testimony, saying he was being used to "besmirch" the ANC.”

    ANC Daily News Briefing

  • “The TRC's findings were also "capricious and arbitrary" and would "besmirch" the legitimate struggle against apartheid ..”

    ANC Daily News Briefing

  • “Villa issued a statement on Wednesday accusing Sunderland of trying to "besmirch" the club's name, but the row shows few signs of abating as Bruce attempts to plug a gap made all the more sizeable by the news that loan signing Danny Welbeck has undergone surgery to repair a torn knee cartilage and will be sidelined for up to eight weeks.”

    WalesOnline - Home

  • “Lashing out at critics trying to "besmirch" Mr. Tharoor by "presenting me as a proxy for him," Ms. Pushkar, whom the Minister was reportedly planning to marry, said it was "insulting for me as a woman and a friend.”

    The Hindu - Front Page

  • “Lashing out at critics trying to "besmirch" Tharoor by "presenting me as a proxy for him",”

    Analysis

  • “(BTW, Svalgaard delivers a very powerful rebuttal of the PU website so many EU proponents like to cite (it's 22nd June, 17:43:13, or search "besmirch": "The website is basically fraudulent in its claims and reflects the pseudo-science of its promoter.”

    Do "Skeleton" Filaments Give Structure to the Universe? | Universe Today

  • “Any allusions to ties with Jack Abramoff are completely unfounded and are clearly partisan attacks meant to besmirch his stellar reputation.”

    The Washington Post: Updated: McDonnell remakes Virginia Board of Elections

  • “I do not wish to entirely besmirch Mr. West's time in the sun, as he's attempting something other musicians have failed to do well; in fact, I wish a mentor and Creative Director would step in to push him further along.”

    The Huffington Post: Marjon Rebecca Carlos: Pret-a-Parler: Kanye's Debut Conversation With Style

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synonyms (2)

Words with the same meaning

  1. discolor
  1. sully

hypernyms (1)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. smear

reverse dictionary (4)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. besmutch
  1. foul
  1. spot
  1. smirch

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Lists

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Comments

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  • yarb ...with chocolate and phlegm
    besmirching their jowls in equal amounts.

    - Peter Reading, Ménage à Trois, from The Prison Cell & Barrel Mystery, 1976 Jun 23, 2008

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‘besmirch’ has been looked up 3381 times, loved by 15 people, added to 94 lists, commented on 1 time, and has a Scrabble score of 17.