Besmirch

//bɪˈsmɜːtʃ// verb

verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To make dirty. literary, transitive
  2. 2
    charge falsely or with malicious intent; attack the good name and reputation of someone wordnet
  3. 3
    To tarnish something, especially someone's reputation. transitive

    "The newspaper was on a campaign to besmirch the actor."

  4. 4
    smear so as to make dirty or stained wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
smearsmirchsullyaspersecalumniatedefame

Example

More examples

"That news will besmirch his reputation for honesty."

Etymology

From Middle English besmorchen (attested in besmorchid). Compare Middle English bismotered (“bespattered, soiled”). By surface analysis, be- + smirch.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.