Besmirch

Definitions: Besmirch

Besmirch

Verb

1. Charge falsely or with malicious intent; attack the good name and reputation of someone; "The journalists have defamed me!" The article in the paper sullied my reputation".

2. Smear so as to make dirty or stained.

Date "besmirch" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1601. (references)

Note: Besmirch \Be*smirch"\, transitive verb. [imperative past participle Besmirched; present participle verb or noun Besmirching.]. (Websters 1913)

Synonyms: Besmirch

Synonyms: asperse (v), calumniate (v), defame (v), denigrate (v), slander (v), smear (v), smirch (v), sully (v). (additional references)

Crosswords: Besmirch

English words defined with "besmirch": Besmirching. (references)

Specialty definitions using "besmirch": Abbot. (references)

Subject	Topic	Quote
Civil Liberties	Chile	On May 19, President Lagos signed a law on freedom of the press that eliminated a provision under the State Security Law of 1958 that made it a criminal offense to besmirch the honor of state institutions and their members and symbols, such as the Congress, the Supreme Court, the military services, the flag, and the President. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

"Besmirch" is generally used as a lexical verb (infinitive) -- approximately 80.00% of the time. "Besmirch" is used about 5 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Lexical Verb (infinitive)	80%	4	175,879
Lexical Verb (base form)	20%	1	339,140
Total	100.00%	5	N/A

Expression using "besmirch": besmirch one's name. Additional references.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "besmirch"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		përlyej (daub, profane), ndyj (bedraggle, besmear, contaminate, dirty, foul, plaster, pollute, soil, sully), ndot (bedaub, bespatter, contaminate, defile, dirty, disgust, foul, grime, pollute, repugnance, smear, smirch, smudge, soil, splash). (various references)

Arabic		‏لوث (bedaub, befoul, besmear, blot, contaminate, daub, defile, degrade, dirty, discredit, file, foul, pollute, smear, smirch, soil, spot, stain, sully, taint, tarnish), ‏لطخ السمعة (foul, smirch). (various references)

Bulgarian		омърсявам (befoul, dirty, muck, slubber, smirch, soil), опетнявам (attaint, darken, imbrue, maculate, mire, pollute, smirch, smudge, soil, spot, stain, sully, tarnish). (various references)

Czech		pošpinit (blemish, defile, soil, spatter, stain, taint, tarnish, thumb). (various references)

French		ternir (to become cloudy), entacher. (various references)

German		besudeln (befoul, besmear, smear, smirch, soil, sully, to smirch). (various references)

Greek		κηλιδώνω (blemish, blot, blotch, defile, moil, set off, slur, smear, smirch, smudge, smut, speck, speckle, spot, stain, sully), ρυπαίνω (bedaub, befoul, defile, pollute, smirch, soil, sully), βεβηλώνω (defile, desecrate), λερώνω (bedraggle, befoul, begrime, besmear, bespatter, blacken, defile, dirty, foul, grime, moil, set off, slur, smear, smirch, soil, splotch, spot, stain, sully). (various references)

Hungarian		bemocskol (attaint, bedabble, befoul, begrime, defile, dirty, foul, mire, smear, to blemish, to defile, to dirty, to foul, to grime, to mire, to slubber, to smut, to soil, to spatter, to splatter, to taint). (various references)

Indonesian		menodai (blemis, blot, disfigure, taint, tarnish). (various references)

Italian		imbrattare (bedaub, daub, dirty, maculate, smudge, soil, stain). (various references)

Manx		sollaghey (assault, assault sexually, begrime, besmear, contaminate, contamination, defile, defilement, dirty, grime, muck, muddy, pollute, pollution, soil, soiling, stain, sully). (various references)

Pig Latin		esmirchbay

Portuguese		sujar (bedabble, befoul, begrime, besmear, blemish, blotch, daub, defile, dirt, dirty, dishallow, Drabble, draggle-tail, foul, grimy, make it wrong, mess around, mucker, mudguard, slubber, smirch, smoke, smudge, soil, stain, sully), manchar (befoul, blemish, blight, blotch, blur, dirty, discoloration, discoloured, fleck, foul, Fox, maculate, pollute, smirch, smoke, smudge, soil, speckle, spot, stain, sully, taint), lambuzar (anoint, smear, spread), empanar (blear). (various references)

Romanian		tãvãli (trundle), stropi (asperse, beddable, besmear, dabble, damp, dash, drop, irrigate, perfuse, smear, smirch, sparge, spatter, speck, splash, splatter, splutter, spray, sprinkle, sputter, squirt, water), spurca (besmear, defile, desecrate, dirty, smear, smirch, soil, taint, vitiate), murdãri (bedraggle, begrime, besmear, blot, contaminate, defile, foul, litter, mess, muck, muddy, pollute, puddle, slop, smear, smirch, smudge, smut, smutch, soil, splash, splatter, spot, stain, sully, tarnish), mânji (bedaub, beddable, besmear, blur, daub, defile, foul, grime, mess, smirch, soil, stain, sully), calomnia (backbite, calumniate, decry, defame, libel, malign, slander, spatter, stab smb. in the back, traduce). (various references)

Russian		пачкать (befoul, begrime, besmear, daub, mess, smear, smirch, smudge, soil, splotch, spot, sully). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		zamazati (besmear, gild the pill, slush, smear, smudge, soil), ocrniti (blacken, decry, denigrate). (various references)

Spanish		manchar (bedaub, befoul, blemish, blot, blotch, blur, dapple, daub, defile, dirty, foul, maculate, Mark, set off, smear, smudge, soil, spoil, spot, stain, sully, taint, tarnish). (various references)

Swedish		besudla (bespatter, defile, pollute, soil, tarnish). (various references)

Thai		ทำลายความคิ�"เห็น. (various references)

Turkish		pisletmek (befoul, begrime, bemire, besmear, dirty, grime, make a mess of, make dirty, mess, muck, smutch, soil), lekelemek (asperse, attaint, bastardize, bedaub, befoul, blacken, blemish, blot, blotch, blur, brand, breathe upon, cloud, defile, dirty, discolor, discolour, dishonor, fleck, flecker, maculate, mottle, slur, smear, smirch, smudge, smutch, soil, spatter, speckle, splodge, splotch, spot, sprinkle, stain, stigmatize, sully, taint, tarnish), kirletmek (bedaub, befoul, begrime, bemire, besmear, blot, contaminate, daub, defile, dirty, foul, foul up, grime, make dirty, mess, pollute, rape, slur, smear, smirch, smutch, soil, spatter, stain, sully, tarnish, vitiate), karalamak (bedaub, besmear, blacken, blemish, blot out, breathe upon, calumniate, chalk out, dash, dash down, dash off, denigrate, doodle, draw, line through, pollute, rule smth. out, scandalize, score out, scrabble, scratch, scribble, scribble down, smudge, smut, strike through). (various references)

Ukranian		ганьбити (abuse, animadvert, asperse, attaint, blaspheme, defame, disgrace, inveigh, reproach, scandalize, shame, soil, spot, stain, tarnish, tongue, vilify, vituperate, wrong), закоптити (smoke), забруднювати (belute, contaminate, defile, filth, gum up, make dirty, moil, pollute, puddle, stain), позбавляти блиску. (various references)

Welsh		pardduo (blacken, defame, vilify), llychwino (soil, spot, sully, tarnish). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "besmirch": besmirched, besmirches, besmirching. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Besmirch" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: besmerch, besmitch, besmurch, breslich, Messkirch. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "b-c-e-h-i-m-r-s"
	-1 letter: birches, chimers.
	-2 letters: chimbs, chimer, chimes, chirms, chrism, crimes, miches, riches, scribe, smirch.
	-3 letters: berms, bices, biers, birch, birse, bries, brims, chimb, chime, chirm, cires, cribs, cries, crime, emirs, heirs, hemic, herbs, herms, hires, mesic, miche, mires, miser, ribes, rices, rimes, scrim, shier, shire.
	-4 letters: berm, bice, bier, bise, brie, brim, bris, chis, cire.
	Words containing the letters "b-c-e-h-i-m-r-s"
	+1 letter: chemisorb, cherubims.
	+2 letters: besmirched, besmirches, chemisorbs.
	+3 letters: besmirching, bichromates, chemisorbed.
	+4 letters: biochemistry, chamberlains, chambermaids, chemisorbing.
	+5 letters: benchmarkings, rhabdomancies.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.