smear
Americanverb (used with object)
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to spread or daub (an oily, greasy, viscous, or wet substance) on or over something.
to smear butter on bread.
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to spread or daub an oily, greasy, viscous, or wet substance on.
to smear bread with butter.
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to stain, spot, or make dirty with something oily, greasy, viscous, or wet.
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to sully, vilify, or soil (a reputation, good name, etc.).
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to smudge or blur, as by rubbing.
The signature was smeared.
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Slang. to defeat decisively; overwhelm.
They smeared the home team.
noun
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an oily, greasy, viscous, or wet substance, especially a dab of such a substance.
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a stain, spot, or mark made by such a substance.
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a smudge.
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something smeared or to be smeared on a thing, as a glaze for pottery.
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a small quantity of something spread thinly on a slide for microscopic examination.
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vilification.
a smear by a cheap gossip columnist.
verb
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to bedaub or cover with oil, grease, etc
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to rub over or apply thickly
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to rub so as to produce a smudge
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to slander
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slang to defeat completely
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(intr) to be or become smeared or dirtied
noun
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a dirty mark or smudge
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a slanderous attack
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( as modifier )
smear tactics
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a preparation of blood, secretions, etc, smeared onto a glass slide for examination under a microscope
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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smearsimple
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smearssimple
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have smearedperfect
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has smearedperfect
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am smearingprogressive
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are smearingprogressive
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is smearingprogressive
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have been smearingperfect progressive
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has been smearingperfect progressive
Past
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smearedsimple
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had smearedperfect
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was smearingprogressive
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were smearingprogressive
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had been smearingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of smear
before 900; (v.) Middle English smeren, smirien to rub with fat, anoint, Old English smirian, smerian, smerwan; cognate with Dutch smeren, German schmieren, Old Norse smyrja, smyrwa; (noun) in current senses derivative of the v.; compare obsolete smear fat, grease, ointment, Middle English smere, Old English smeoru, cognate with Dutch smear, German Schmer, Old Norse smjǫr grease, Greek smýris rubbing powder; see emery
Explanation
To smear something is to smudge or blur it. You might literally smear your pen-and-ink drawing, or figuratively have your reputation smeared by getting caught in a lie. You can also smear things physically by smoothing them onto another surface, like when you smear lip balm on your mouth or smear cream cheese on your bagel. When you smear a person, however, you cause them real harm by hurting their reputation badly. A politician might smear an opponent by falsely claiming they lied about where they went to college, for example. That kind of smear can be hard to erase.
Vocabulary lists containing smear
"Skins" and "Nicole"
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Old Yeller
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"The Ugly One," Vocabulary from Chapters 1-5
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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:
Cowboys would scrape the wriggling larvae from wounds on cattle and smear the now-banned paste over it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
So, in spite of O’Leary’s concerted efforts to smear the protesters as “proxies” for the Chinese government, and to dismiss opposing arguments as “poo-poo,” Utah politicians sound quite different right now.
From Slate ● Jun. 1, 2026
An online smear campaign last month engulfed another Southern California mosque.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2026
Bell described the outcome of the latest review as an insult to the women who have "suffered as a direct result of their smear tests being misread".
From BBC ● May 14, 2026
Mr. Beaver asked Roz to dig a trench here, to place large stones there, to arrange logs this way, to smear mud that way.
From "The Wild Robot" by Peter Brown
So when Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen asked him about the Atlantic’s recent report regarding his alleged drinking on the job, Patel leapt at Van Hollen with a set of smears.
From Slate ● May 16, 2026
HPV tests and Pap smears are critical tools to diagnose patients who might have an infection.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 5, 2026
"That appalling headline, filled with lies and smears against Liverpool supporters, caused untold pain and trauma to the families of the 97 victims, survivors, and the wider Liverpool community," he wrote.
From BBC ● Nov. 12, 2025
Popular for offering unique and affordable products — like sunscreens that don’t leave white smears while doubling as moisturizers — South Korean cosmetics have dominated some social media feeds in recent years.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2025
Blurs on the horizon became ships, became bow and stern and the smears of faces.
From "Ship Breaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi
The liver is then extracted and treated before serving, perhaps pan-seared or smeared cold on bread.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
Lean and wet and smeared with grass, he introduces himself as Lincoln Hedberg from New Jersey.
From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2026
“It almost looks like Cheeto dust,” she said, “like somebody had Cheetos on their fingers and just smeared it on the landscape.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 26, 2026
Coating cools while dripping from an arm, smiles askew send mixed signals, smeared eyes like they’d been up late partying with the tarts, blemishes, cracked sugary skin.
From Salon ● Feb. 5, 2026
I force the sandwich to my lips and it crumbles, dry toast smeared with butter, in my mouth.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
She added West was also smearing her make-up on her face "in a way that just felt wrong".
From BBC ● Jun. 10, 2026
“Gray raindrops pattered listlessly on the kitchen window, obscuring the thin morning light” as Honor Wilson is found smearing “a dot of margarine across some toast.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026
Ramos said the audio was about smearing his work, adding "no Mexican authority took responsibility for that audio."
From Barron's ● May 14, 2026
But when he discovers a beehive, he shares the honey with his fellow prisoners by smearing it over his body.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 9, 2026
“Darling,” Mrs. Levy began, but Miss Trixie had fallen asleep on her side, her creamed face smearing the couch.
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
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.
