smear
Americanverb (used with object)
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smears,
present (3rd person singular)
-
smeared,
past participle, past
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smearing
present participle
-
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.
-
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
-
a dirty mark or smudge
-
-
a slanderous attack
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( as modifier )
smear tactics
-
-
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
-
smearssimple
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have smearedperfect
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has smearedperfect
-
am smearingprogressive
-
are smearingprogressive
-
is smearingprogressive
-
have been smearingperfect progressive
-
has been smearingperfect progressive
Past
-
smearedsimple
-
had smearedperfect
-
was smearingprogressive
-
were smearingprogressive
-
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:
He dipped it in water and began to smear the water on Bill’s leg.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 13, 2026
China has denied allegations of Huang being a Chinese spy, calling the allegations "entirely groundless, speculative and intended to smear and malign China."
From BBC ● Nov. 9, 2026
"The report in question is based on groundless speculation and is nothing more than an attempt to smear China," foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said at a regular briefing.
From Barron's ● Oct. 30, 2026
The paramilitary group's health minister described the allegations as propaganda and a deliberate attempt by the national army and its allies to smear the RSF's reputation.
From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2026
Andromeda was not a cloud of glowing gas; it was a cloud of stars so distant that they looked like a smear rather than individual points of light.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
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
In an Instagram video, external, Sawalha said she had become "the target of an escalating campaign of smears, complaints, hostile media coverage and targeted calls to have me removed from Loose Women".
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
She tears into a warm baguette, smears it with chèvre and hands him a piece.
From Salon ● Jun. 30, 2026
Doctors typically swab a patient’s cervix in clinical settings to test for high-risk strains of the human papillomavirus, an infection that can cause cancer when left untreated, through Pap smears and HPV testing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 5, 2026
There were smears of river mud on his bare knees and his shenti, and on the gnarled hand with which he held the reeds aside as he gazed with mild astonishment at the boy.
From "The Golden Goblet" by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
I love tossing it with cubetti pasta, peas and canned white beans for a quick pasta salad, but it’s also fantastic smeared on sourdough toast and piled with olive oil-marinated vegetables.
From Salon ● Nov. 5, 2026
But he warned that Arab Israelis - who make up about one fifth of the population and often refer to themselves as Palestinian citizens of Israel - "must not be smeared".
From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2026
Lean and wet and smeared with grass, he introduces himself as Lincoln Hedberg from New Jersey.
From Slate ● Jun. 24, 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
The left one is smeared, as though he forgot about it and wiped his eye.
From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black
“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
Mullin did not apologize for his remarks and instead accused Paul of smearing his character.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 18, 2026
His ill-fated attempt to unmask a whistleblower he thought was smearing an old colleague, was seen by some – but not all – as evidence of fierce loyalty to his own troops.
From BBC ● Mar. 2, 2025
She wiped her hand across her forehead, smearing flour across her brow.
From "Stella by Starlight" by Sharon M. Draper
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
