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Besmirch   Listen
Besmirch

verb
(past & past part. besmirched; pres. part. besmirching)
1.
Charge falsely or with malicious intent; attack the good name and reputation of someone.  Synonyms: asperse, calumniate, defame, denigrate, slander, smear, smirch, sully.  "The article in the paper sullied my reputation"
2.
Smear so as to make dirty or stained.  Synonym: smirch.






WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








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"Besmirch" Quotes from Famous Books



... could easily make it convenient to be absent until the deal was closed. Furthermore, the chances were that the British-American Coal and Lumber Company would still have good value for their money, for the west half of the limits was exceptionally good; and besides, what right had he to besmirch the honor of his employer, and to set his judgment above that of a man of much greater experience? Ranald understood also Mr. St. Clair's reference to the changes in the firm, and it gave him no small satisfaction ...
— The Man From Glengarry - A Tale Of The Ottawa • Ralph Connor

... feet, when Conrad Lagrange caught his eye with a warning look. Instantly, he remembered what the result would be if he should yield to his impulse. Wild with indignation, rage, and burning shame, he knew that to betray himself would be to invite a thousand sneering questions and insinuations to besmirch the name of ...
— The Eyes of the World • Harold Bell Wright

... Heaven! Why should they mock poor fellows thus? The man, that once did sell the lion's skin While the beast liv'd, was kill'd with hunting him. Let me speak proudly:—Tell the Constable, We are but warriors for the working-day:[24] Our gayness and our guilt[25] are all besmirch'd With rainy marching in the painful field, And time hath worn us into slovenry. But, by the mass, our hearts are in the trim; And my poor soldiers tell me—yet ere night They'll be in fresher robes; or they will pluck The gay new coats o'er the French soldiers' heads, And turn them out of service. ...
— King Henry the Fifth - Arranged for Representation at the Princess's Theatre • William Shakespeare

... of a writer thus accords with public inclinations it is a matter of little import whether he deviates or fails since he is following the universal tendency. He may wander off or besmirch himself in vain, for his audience is only the more pleased, his defects serving him as advantageously as his good qualities. After the first generation of healthy minds the second one comes on, the intellectual ...
— The Origins of Contemporary France, Volume 1 (of 6) - The Ancient Regime • Hippolyte A. Taine

... have found in private converse that hundreds approve their action but do not follow it because they dislike to be thought singular. The out-and-out journalistic supporters of the country vilify the mother country as a whole. They belittle its history and besmirch its rulers. Loyal Australians pooh-pooh these prints and entreat the stranger within their gates to believe that they are despised and without influence. The stranger has only to travel to learn better than this. The strongest current of Australian feeling is setting ...
— Recollections • David Christie Murray



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