befoul
verb (used with object)
to make dirty or filthy; soil; defile; sully.
had befouled
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past perfectof befoul.past perfect
Used to express a completed action that took place before another specific past action occurred.
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.
Acknowledging his critics’ reservations, he observed that dirt had befouled the frescoes for so long, even experts struggled to imagine the chapel, or Michelangelo’s capabilities as a colorist, in a different light.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 9, 2021
It was always they, not he, who had befouled the stream.
From Theodoric the Goth Barbarian Champion of Civilisation by Thomas Hodgkin
I was walking over the swamps of Sukhum, and I noticed all that I disliked—the deep dust on the road, the broken-down bridges, the streams that cattle had befouled.
From A Tramp's Sketches by Stephen Graham
