besmirch

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be·smirch

(bĭ-smûrch′)

tr.v. be·smirched, be·smirch·ing, be·smirch·es

1. To stain; sully: a reputation that was besmirched by slander.

2. To make dirty; soil.

be·smirch′er n.

be·smirch′ment n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

besmirch

(bɪˈsmɜːtʃ)

vb (tr)

1. to make dirty; soil

2. to reduce the brightness or lustre of

3. to sully (often in the phrase besmirch (a person's) name)

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

be•smirch

(bɪˈsmɜrtʃ)

v.t.

1. to soil; sully.

2. to detract from the honor or luster of.

[1590–1600]

be•smirch′er, n.

besmirch

Past participle: besmirched
Gerund: besmirching

Imperative
besmirch
besmirch

Present
I besmirch
you besmirch
he/she/it besmirches
we besmirch
you besmirch
they besmirch

Preterite
I besmirched
you besmirched
he/she/it besmirched
we besmirched
you besmirched
they besmirched

Present Continuous
I am besmirching
you are besmirching
he/she/it is besmirching
we are besmirching
you are besmirching
they are besmirching

Present Perfect
I have besmirched
you have besmirched
he/she/it has besmirched
we have besmirched
you have besmirched
they have besmirched

Past Continuous
I was besmirching
you were besmirching
he/she/it was besmirching
we were besmirching
you were besmirching
they were besmirching

Past Perfect
I had besmirched
you had besmirched
he/she/it had besmirched
we had besmirched
you had besmirched
they had besmirched

Future
I will besmirch
you will besmirch
he/she/it will besmirch
we will besmirch
you will besmirch
they will besmirch

Future Perfect
I will have besmirched
you will have besmirched
he/she/it will have besmirched
we will have besmirched
you will have besmirched
they will have besmirched

Future Continuous
I will be besmirching
you will be besmirching
he/she/it will be besmirching
we will be besmirching
you will be besmirching
they will be besmirching

Present Perfect Continuous
I have been besmirching
you have been besmirching
he/she/it has been besmirching
we have been besmirching
you have been besmirching
they have been besmirching

Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been besmirching
you will have been besmirching
he/she/it will have been besmirching
we will have been besmirching
you will have been besmirching
they will have been besmirching

Past Perfect Continuous
I had been besmirching
you had been besmirching
he/she/it had been besmirching
we had been besmirching
you had been besmirching
they had been besmirching

Conditional
I would besmirch
you would besmirch
he/she/it would besmirch
we would besmirch
you would besmirch
they would besmirch

Past Conditional
I would have besmirched
you would have besmirched
he/she/it would have besmirched
we would have besmirched
you would have besmirched
they would have besmirched

Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Verb	1.	besmirch - charge falsely or with malicious intent; attack the good name and reputation of someone; "The journalists have defamed me!" "The article in the paper sullied my reputation" asperse, calumniate, defame, slander, smirch, denigrate, sully, smear accuse, charge - blame for, make a claim of wrongdoing or misbehavior against; "he charged the director with indifference" assassinate - destroy or damage seriously, as of someone's reputation; "He assassinated his enemy's character" libel - print slanderous statements against; "The newspaper was accused of libeling him" badmouth, drag through the mud, malign, traduce - speak unfavorably about; "She badmouths her husband everywhere"
	2.	besmirch - smear so as to make dirty or stained smirch smear - stain by smearing or daubing with a dirty substance

besmirch

verb tarnish, damage, soil, stain, smear, taint, blacken, daub, slander, sully, dishonour, defame, drag through the mud, smirch Lawyers can besmirch reputations.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

besmirch

verb

1. To contaminate the reputation of:

befoul, besmear, bespatter, blacken, cloud, denigrate, dirty, smear, smudge, smut, soil, spatter, stain, sully, taint, tarnish.

Idioms: give a black eye to, sling mud on.

2. To make dirty:

befoul, begrime, besoil, black, blacken, defile, dirty, smudge, smutch, soil, sully.

Translations

beschmutzen

bekladden besmeuren bezoedelen

загрязнять пачкать пятнать

besmirch

[bɪˈsmɜːtʃ] VT → manchar, mancillar

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

besmirch

[bɪˈsmɜː^rtʃ] vt (= sully) [+ reputation] → ternir, entacher
to besmirch sb → diffamer qn

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

besmirch

vt (lit, fig) → beschmutzen, besudeln

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

besmirch

[bɪˈsmɜːtʃ] vt (liter) → screditare

Mentioned in ?

References in classic literature ?

Love was too fine and noble, and he was too loyal a lover for him to besmirch love with criticism.

View in context

"The two deliberately attempted to besmirch my honor, Olga," and then he told her of all that had happened in the smoking-room.

View in context

Voluptuousness, thirst of power, and selfishness,--the three forces in humanity which Christianity has done most to garble and besmirch,-- Nietzsche endeavours to reinstate in their former places of honour.

View in context

Jo was indeed fearfully and wonderfully besmirched, as by the hand of an artist.

View in context

"It may be," he replied, "because I will not encounter the dishonour that besmirches the husband of a faithless woman.

View in context

Do not you ever read the history of your country as it was many hundreds of years ago, before this ugly thing they call civilization weakened the sinews of our race and besmirched the very face of duty?

View in context

There were too many people, provincials with foolish faces, foreigners poring over guide-books; their hideousness besmirched the everlasting masterpieces, their restlessness troubled the god's immortal repose.

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Those who had been greedy with the staves of the cask, had acquired a tigerish smear about the mouth; and one tall joker so besmirched, his head more out of a long squalid bag of a nightcap than in it, scrawled upon a wall with his finger dipped in muddy wine-lees--BLOOD.

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We ran away in a fright, but he plucked the beam all besmirched with gore from his eye, and hurled it from him in a frenzy of rage and pain, shouting as he did so to the other Cyclopes who lived on the bleak headlands near him; so they gathered from all quarters round his cave when they heard him crying, and asked what was the matter with him.

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At the present instant one of the most revered names in England is being besmirched by a blackmailer, and only I can stop a disastrous scandal.

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The goddess went dazed and discomfited away, and Iris, fleet as the wind, drew her from the throng, in pain and with her fair skin all besmirched. She found fierce Mars waiting on the left of the battle, with his spear and his two fleet steeds resting on a cloud; whereon she fell on her knees before her brother and implored him to let her have his horses.

View in context

See how he ends his book: Let no man besmirch the fighting men of this last war.