smear
Americanverb (used with object)
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smears,
present (3rd person singular)
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smeared,
past participle, past
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smearing
present participle
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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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smears
plural
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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:
In an open letter, signed by more than 150 filmmakers, academics, writers and even a few rabbis, the group denounced “the outrageous smear campaign against our respected colleague Mark Ruffalo.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026
Piker, who has said he was raised Muslim but is non-practicing, called himself a victim of a "coordinated smear campaign" and Islamophobia.
From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026
Baldoni denied harassing Lively or orchestrating a smear campaign against her.
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026
An online smear campaign accused him of having plagiarized parts of his 2015 doctoral thesis.
From Salon ● Aug. 20, 2026
Charlie grabbed a rag from his back pocket and tried to clean his hands, but they were so filthy, all he did was smear the dirt around.
From "We Are the Ants" by Shaun David Hutchinson
Researchers gently rub the parchment with a dry cytology brush, the same type of brush used for Pap smears.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 11, 2026
“I was just trying to get through a tray at a time,” she says, “but there were layers of smears that had come in overnight.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
She tears into a warm baguette, smears it with chèvre and hands him a piece.
From Salon ● Jun. 30, 2026
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
And I can see some smears on the mirror—it's my spit, not invisible now.
From "Things Not Seen" by Andrew Clements
Lean and wet and smeared with grass, he introduces himself as Lincoln Hedberg from New Jersey.
From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2026
Kyle Jamieson smeared three sixes in his unbeaten 38 and was left stranded when Robinson bowled Henry for his fourth Test five-for.
From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2026
Often smeared on hot buttered toast, it tastes like a fishy, peppery paté, befitting the mock Latin name Osborn gave to it, Patum Peperium.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 1, 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
A streak of slime smeared across his lip as he swiped and pinched and dug just enough for it to count as a dig, but not enough for it to count as diggin'.
From "Look Both Ways" by Jason Reynolds
Exiled Tibetans and advocacy groups have accused China of heavily underreporting the death toll from devastating flooding in border regions with Nepal, claims Beijing rejected as "malicious smearing and sensationalism".
From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026
Technicians then pour off the top layer and place a drop of the concentrated sediment onto a glass slide before smearing it evenly.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
She added West was also smearing her make-up on her face "in a way that just felt wrong".
From BBC ● Jun. 10, 2026
Mullin did not apologize for his remarks and instead accused Paul of smearing his character.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 18, 2026
He was dabbling his hand in the duck grease and smearing it underneath his head- bandage.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson
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.
