"besmirch" meaning in English

See besmirch in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

IPA: /bɪˈsmɜːtʃ/ [UK], /bɪˈsmɝːtʃ/ [US] Audio: en-us-besmirch.ogg [US], en-au-besmirch.ogg [Australia] Forms: besmirch [canonical], besmirches [third-person, singular], besmirched [past], besmirched [past, participle], besmirching [present, participle]
Head templates: {{verb|besmirch|es}} [POS TABLE]
  1. If you besmirch something, you make it dirty. Synonyms: soil
    Sense id: simple-besmirch-en-verb-YywoiK~4
  2. If you besmirch someone, you damage someone's reputation. Synonyms: smear, slander
    Sense id: simple-besmirch-en-verb-PgI3BfH-
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "besmirch",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "besmirches",
      "tags": [
        "third-person",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "besmirched",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "besmirched",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "besmirching",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "participle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "besmirch",
        "2": "es"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "If you besmirch something, you make it dirty."
      ],
      "id": "simple-besmirch-en-verb-YywoiK~4",
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "soil"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The newspaper was on a campaign to besmirch the actor."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If you besmirch someone, you damage someone's reputation."
      ],
      "id": "simple-besmirch-en-verb-PgI3BfH-",
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "smear"
        },
        {
          "word": "slander"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/bɪˈsmɜːtʃ/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/bɪˈsmɝːtʃ/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-besmirch.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-besmirch.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "besmirch"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "besmirch",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "besmirches",
      "tags": [
        "third-person",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "besmirched",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "besmirched",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "besmirching",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "participle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "besmirch",
        "2": "es"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Transitive verbs"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If you besmirch something, you make it dirty."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "soil"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Transitive verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The newspaper was on a campaign to besmirch the actor."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If you besmirch someone, you damage someone's reputation."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "smear"
        },
        {
          "word": "slander"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/bɪˈsmɜːtʃ/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/bɪˈsmɝːtʃ/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-besmirch.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-besmirch.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "besmirch"
}

Download raw JSONL data for besmirch meaning in English (1.1kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-02-11 from the simplewiktionary dump dated 2025-02-02 using wiktextract (f90d964 and 9dbd323). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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