sully
verb (used with object)
to soil, stain, or tarnish.
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Sulaym.
sully
1 American
[suhl-ee]
/ ˈsʌl i /
verb (used with object)
-
sullies,
present (3rd person singular)
-
sullied,
past participle, past
-
sullying
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
sullies,
present (3rd person singular)
-
sullied,
past participle, past
-
sullying
present participle
noun
-
sullies
plural
Sully
2
American
[suhl-ee, sy -lee]
/ ˈsʌl i, süˈli /
noun
-
Maximilien de Béthune Duc de, 1560–1641, French statesman.
-
Thomas, 1783–1872, U.S. painter, born in England.
sully
1
British
/ ˈsʌlɪ /
verb
noun
-
a stain
-
the act of sullying
Sully
2
British
/ sylli, ˈsʌlɪ /
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
sullysimple
-
sulliessimple
-
have sulliedperfect
-
has sulliedperfect
-
am sullyingprogressive
-
are sullyingprogressive
-
is sullyingprogressive
-
have been sullyingperfect progressive
-
has been sullyingperfect progressive
Past
-
sulliedsimple
-
had sulliedperfect
-
was sullyingprogressive
-
were sullyingprogressive
-
had been sullyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sully
First recorded in 1585–95; origin uncertain
Explanation
To sully is to attack someone's good name and to try to ruin his reputation. If you spread false rumors that there's chicken stock in the vegetarian entree at Joe's Diner, you would sully Joe's good reputation. Sully can also mean to tarnish or make spotty. It's easy to remember this meaning when you know that sully comes from the Middle French word souiller, meaning, "make dirty." For example, dripping chocolate sauce onto the table will sully your mother's new white tablecloth. Another meaning of sully is to corrupt or cast suspicion on. If an automaker recalls millions of vehicles due to safety problems, it doesn't exactly inspire confidence — in fact, it may sully their brand.
Vocabulary lists containing sully
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Despite being explicitly prevented from blaming any party for a death, hearings can often descend into a blame game, with barristers trying to save or sully an organisation's reputation.
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026
Anyone associated in any way with Jeffrey Epstein would sully the Olympics, especially an organizer thereof.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 21, 2026
Macron almost immediately responded on X: "Shame on those who wanted to sully his memory," he wrote.
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2025
There are countertop devices that promise to scramble your egg inside the shell, so you never have to sully a whisk again.
From Salon ● Feb. 11, 2025
Too many black marks could sully a person’s reputation and even prevent a promotion at work.
From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Next came a year of auditions in Australia and the U.S. before I was cast as Jake Sully in “Avatar.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 16, 2026
Without fail, the miniature version of me would blubber at Sully the polka dot monster reuniting with Boo, and Marlin the clownfish traversing the ocean to find his son.
From Salon ● Jun. 6, 2026
One of the competitors, Hailey Krahenbuhl, wrote on Facebook that her horse, Sully, was one of the horses injured in the attack.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 1, 2026
"Fire and Ash" stars Zoe Saldana as Na'vi warrior Neytiri and Sam Worthington as ex-Marine Jake Sully, who must battle a new foe threatening their family's life on the planet Pandora.
From Barron's ● Jan. 4, 2026
Even Sully paused in the act of getting up.
From "A Monster Calls" by Patrick Ness
"This summit does not dignify anyone, rather, it dirties them, it sullies them. We Latin Americans have to defend ourselves so that they respect us."
From Reuters ● May 19, 2022
Trivializing the suffering of those targeted for extermination by comparing it to modern-day difficulties sullies the memory of the victims.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 31, 2022
Since I began working on the history of the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill, every time crude oil sullies U.S. waters and beaches, I wait for the same sad, misleading official narrative.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2021
No such fluff sullies the lexicon of Burke’s latest character.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 16, 2019
The thought of money sullies the fairest manuscript.
From Without Prejudice by Israel Zangwill
I had imagined that retirement would offer a life unshackled at last, a blissful new chapter in which workplace anxiety no longer sullied my contentment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 2026
But he has been tipped to potentially replace Thomas Tuchel as England boss after the World Cup and will not want his reputation sullied by a poor end to the season.
From Barron's ● Feb. 8, 2026
I'm not surprised to see air pollution, it's why we're doing the experiment, but I can't escape a feeling of being dirtied, contaminated… sullied by it.
From BBC ● Feb. 6, 2026
Sweeping ocean views are sullied by hollow shells of graffiti-tagged homes and miles of chain-link fencing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2025
“Naw. My soul is too sullied for the Lord to bother much with me.”
From "Dread Nation" by Justina Ireland
As far back as the 1930s, during the infamous “Bodyline” tour, English bowlers were accused of sullying the game by aiming balls directly at Australian batsmen.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 21, 2025
"Without those answers any sceptical person would be worried that there might be some financial wrongdoing taking place and this would risk sullying the reputation of the Royal family," she added.
From BBC ● Oct. 24, 2025
Dismayed by the trash sullying the river that the mosque sits on, he ordered a cleanup.
From New York Times ● Apr. 17, 2024
But Fefferman said this dirt sometimes blows onto his home, coating his solar panels and sullying his pool and koi pond.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 12, 2023
Worse, he is sullying the only thing her family owns: its good name.
From "Enrique's Journey" by Sonia Nazario
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
