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:
They can take a generous smear of sauce, withstand several hours of compression and still emerge recognizably bread-shaped.
From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2026
Even Leo Stein, the American expatriate proponent of avant-garde art, called it “brilliant and powerful, but the nastiest smear of paint I had ever seen.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026
Earlier, lawyers for MacInnes said Wilson's allegations were "malicious concoctions" and the court heard claims the Hollywood star had ordered a smear website to target Ghost, which Wilson denied.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 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
The watery smear of saliva landed on Dr. Inyang’s chin.
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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
She tears into a warm baguette, smears it with chèvre and hands him a piece.
From Salon ● Jun. 30, 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
Red smears painted parts of the discarded drywall.
From "We Are the Ants" by Shaun David Hutchinson
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
Just to be sure, though, the soldiers cracked two raw chicken eggs on his head and smeared the contents over his body, a traditional method for neutralizing the supernatural.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 12, 2026
When meat is ground just before cooking, the fat remains distinct rather than smeared.
From Salon ● Mar. 11, 2026
Outside, the afternoon was a riot of noise, movement, and color, smeared to shades of red and gray.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
Ramos said the audio was about smearing his work, adding "no Mexican authority took responsibility for that audio."
From Barron's ● May 14, 2026
He held a press conference outside his law office a few blocks away as rain fell, smearing reporters’ notes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 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
Writing for the London Evening Standard one TV critic accused Big Brother's top executive Peter Bazalgette of "smearing excrement over our screens".
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2025
I picked moss out of my hair and tried in vain to brush the mud from my pants, but succeeded only in smearing it, making me look like some bog creature vomited from the earth.
From "Hollow City" by Ransom Riggs
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.
