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.
None of the high-born men he knows would sully their steel in the name of protecting the innocent.
From Salon • Feb. 23, 2026
Macron almost immediately responded on X: "Shame on those who wanted to sully his memory," he wrote.
From Barron's • Oct. 9, 2025
Introducing a two-tier system to the World Test Championship would be "greedy" and would "sully the game", says former England fast bowler Steven Finn.
From BBC • Jan. 7, 2025
It threatened to sully her white dress flecked with rainbows.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 9, 2024
He noticed it also and very carefully moved away so that my jacket would not sully his.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
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.
