besmirch
Americanverb (used with object)
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besmirches,
present (3rd person singular)
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besmirched,
past participle, past
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besmirching
present participle
verb
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to make dirty; soil
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to reduce the brightness or lustre of
-
to sully (often in the phrase besmirch ( a person's ) name )
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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besmirchsimple
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besmirchessimple
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have besmirchedperfect
-
has besmirchedperfect
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am besmirchingprogressive
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are besmirchingprogressive
-
is besmirchingprogressive
-
have been besmirchingperfect progressive
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has been besmirchingperfect progressive
Past
-
besmirchedsimple
-
had besmirchedperfect
-
was besmirchingprogressive
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were besmirchingprogressive
-
had been besmirchingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of besmirch
Explanation
To besmirch means to dirty or tarnish, particularly someone's reputation — like when you call Billy a cheater at kickball (even though you know he's just better at bunting than you). Besmirch may sound kind of funny, but it goes hand in hand with other hurtful words like defame and slander. It can also mean to literally stain something. So that time you tracked mud all over the new white carpet and then blamed it on your little brother? That was a double besmirching — dirtying the rug and then falsely accusing a sibling.
Vocabulary lists containing besmirch
The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "B"
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All About That Baseless: Bad-Faith Accusations
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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:
Steele doesn’t besmirch the data that punishes his Redhawks, but he also says “there’s something to winning.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 2, 2026
Mr Yusuf said he had never met Gill, and it was unreasonable to "besmirch" Reform UK, Nigel Farage and the party's millions of supporters.
From BBC ● Nov. 23, 2025
As it turns out, Murray’s story doesn’t besmirch Candy’s memory at all.
From Salon ● Oct. 12, 2025
It’s still theirs and not yours to besmirch.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 7, 2023
But it was another example of both the lack of knowledge about South Africa in the rest of Africa and the extraordinary lengths the PAC would go to besmirch the ANC.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
"Behaviour like that, whether it's at an Old Firm match or any other football match, besmirches that, and it should absolutely be seen as unacceptable."
From BBC ● Apr. 4, 2022
The prevalence of this ugly fad usage besmirches the language with a jarring oddity, without purpose in clarity or elegance.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 20, 2021
Mud besmirches his van’s tiny, neat living space.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 6, 2018
It is unfortunate that this Times article indirectly besmirches the Yankees.
From New York Times ● Jul. 8, 2017
But in one way or another, justice demands that the slanderer contradict his lying imputations and remove by so doing the stain that besmirches the character of his victim.
From Explanation of Catholic Morals A Concise, Reasoned, and Popular Exposition of Catholic Morals by John H. (John Henry) Stapleton
“New banks didn’t even call themselves banks and instead used the expression caisses, meaning ‘deposits,’ so besmirched was the banking industry’s reputation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 12, 2025
"What happened thereafter has besmirched the unsuspecting town of Kidwelly," he said.
From BBC ● Mar. 7, 2025
But our own humanity has been besmirched, damaged, undermined by such silences, which, in many ways, represent the most powerful propaganda of all.
From Salon ● May 31, 2023
Securities and Exchange Commission, had wrongly besmirched Hindenburg’s “well-deserved reputation for thoroughness, precision and accuracy.”
From Reuters ● Feb. 2, 2023
Was there any kind of filth with which he had not besmirched himself, any sin and folly which he had not committed, any stain upon his soul for which he alone had not been responsible?
From "Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse
Instead, “People getting ready to do things” is spelled out in egg yolk, besmirching the virginal purity of its white satin support; and “It’s only vanishing cream” is translucent shellac disappearing against deathly black.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 7, 2024
The businesses declared themselves outraged by the government besmirching their reputation.
From BBC ● Jan. 18, 2023
Like, say, besmirching an evening that featured Black women making Oscars history, with Regina Hall and Wanda Sykes joining Amy Schumer as the first trio of women to host the show.
From Salon ● Mar. 28, 2022
The film’s locations are one thing, and the horses in the stable something else again, but besmirching the reputation of hard-working stunt dogs is just unacceptable.
From Slate ● May 16, 2019
With my position placed upon my brow, like a crown on a king, freed at last from all the mean and besmirching tricks of acquiring social distinction, I could grow and expand.
From The Fifth Wheel A Novel by Olive Higgins Prouty
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
