unsullied
Americanadjective
-
not soiled, untarnished.
an unsullied public persona.
-
virginal; pure.
He wears a purity ring signifying that he will remain unsullied until marriage.
adjective
Etymology
Origin of unsullied
Explanation
Your reputation is unsullied, or unsoiled, because you study hard, you don’t skip school, and you are generally kind to everyone. Your friend’s reputation hasn’t stayed unsullied since he got caught selling answers to tests. To understand the adjective unsullied, you must understand its root, sully, "to soil or tarnish." Something unsullied is spotless: you usually refer to things in the abstract in this way — your military record may be unsullied by disciplinary actions, your report card may be unsullied by grades lower than A.
Vocabulary lists containing unsullied
"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, Chapters 1–6
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Into the Wild
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The Bluest Eye
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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.
Even in these cases, a particular moral clarity persists: War may be terrible, egos corrupt and violence seductive, but there’s always at least one character whose vision remains unsullied.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 18, 2025
He describes a large rustic loaf “held close to the heart,” sliced toward the body in a communal sacrament, representing an elemental and ancient loaf unsullied by ultra-processing or bleached flour.
From Slate ● Mar. 15, 2025
Recent histories of the Blackwells and the Grimkes have expanded our understanding of how progress is rarely spurred by a single, unsullied person; it takes a multiplicity.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2024
It includes the unique Stehekin Valley — inaccessible by road and, thanks to Congress’ set-aside, a rare lowland valley with an unsullied wild river and more trout, bear and deer than buildings.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 4, 2024
If “forest primeval” means woodland unsullied by the human presence, Denevan has written, there was much more of it in the nineteenth century than in the seventeenth.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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.
