sully
verb (used with object)
to soil, stain, or tarnish.
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
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
It threatened to sully her white dress flecked with rainbows.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2024
I thought of the grand preparations, the hours of ladies in beauty parlors, the hundreds of thousands of new and delicate ball gowns, the spike-heeled satin shoes a passing out might sully.
From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck
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
"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
I’m particularly fond of how the Na’vi express themselves in hisses and coyote yips and exhale the foreign name Jake Sully like a sneeze.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 16, 2025
He could feel the quiet opening up around them, even Anton and Sully falling silent.
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
The least important is the structure itself, unless it sullies the site it occupies and increases the indebtedness of the people it serves.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 28, 2020
No such fluff sullies the lexicon of Burke’s latest character.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 16, 2019
Sometimes these passions plunge us into a turbulent joy, and he who gives way to such, sullies the air with brutish laughter.
From Thais by Robert B. (Robert Bruce) Douglas
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 felt my reputation was sullied," he said.
From BBC ● Dec. 8, 2025
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
Finally, it lay in a puff of sullied feathers.
From "Purple Hibiscus" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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
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
She once paid $110,000 at a fund-raising auction to buy the right to hold a party there — in large part to prevent nonroyals from sullying what she considered her ancestral home.
From New York Times ● Dec. 14, 2022
Ifemelu said, her voice rising, and then she was sobbing, apologizing to Aunty Uju, her own guilt spreading and sullying her.
From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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