9 definitions found

blacken v 1: make or become black; "The smoke blackened the ceiling"; "The ceiling blackened" [syn: blacken, melanize, melanise, nigrify, black] [ant: white, whiten] 2: burn slightly and superficially so as to affect color; "The cook blackened the chicken breast"; "The fire charred the ceiling above the mantelpiece"; "the flames scorched the ceiling" [syn: char, blacken, sear, scorch]

blacken
v.
1 tr. & intr. make or become black or dark.
2 tr. speak evil of, defame (blacken someone's character).

blacken (blackens, blackening, blackened) 1. To blacken something means to make it black or very dark in colour. Something that blackens becomes black or very dark in colour. The married women of Shitamachi maintained the custom of blackening their teeth... You need to grill the tomatoes until the skins blacken. VERB: V n, V 2. If someone blackens your character, they make other people believe that you are a bad person. They're trying to blacken our name. VERB: V n

blacken ˈblækən v. 1 tr. & intr. make or become black or dark. 2 tr. speak evil of, defame (blacken someone's character).

Blacken \Black"en\, v. i. To grow black or dark.

Blacken \Black"en\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Blackened; p. pr. & vb. n. Blackening.] [See Black, a., and cf. Black, v. t. ] 1. To make or render black. While the long funerals blacken all the way. --Pope. 2. To make dark; to darken; to cloud. ``Blackened the whole heavens.'' --South. 3. To defame; to sully, as reputation; to make infamous; as, vice blackens the character. Syn: To denigrate; defame; vilify; slander; calumniate; traduce; malign; asperse.

blacken I. v. a. 1. Darken, make black. 2. Sully, deface, soil, defile, darken, stain. 3. Vilify, defame, slander, calumniate, asperse, traduce, malign, besmirch, revile, rail at, sneer at, run down, speak ill of. See abuse. II. v. n. Grow black, darken, gloom, lower, threaten.

blacken ˈblækən v. 1 darken, smudge, begrime: The chimney sweep's face was blackened with soot. 2 slander, libel, asperse, cast aspersions on, traduce, smear, sully, soil, besmirch, taint, tarnish, defame, revile, malign, vilify, discredit, denigrate: His article has blackened my reputation.

124 Moby Thesaurus words for "blacken": abuse, asperse, attaint, bark at, becloud, bedarken, bedaub, bedim, begloom, begrime, berate, besmear, besmirch, besmoke, besmutch, besoil, bespatter, bestain, betongue, black, black out, blackwash, block the light, blot, blot out, blotch, blow upon, blur, brand, brown, call names, cast a shadow, cast aspersions on, censure, charcoal, cloud, cloud over, cork, darken, darken over, daub, defame, defile, denigrate, dim, dim out, dinge, dirty, disapprove, discolor, discredit, disparage, ebonize, eclipse, encloud, encompass with shadow, engage in personalities, execrate, expose, expose to infamy, fulminate against, gibbet, gloom, hang in effigy, heap dirt upon, ink, jaw, libel, load with reproaches, malign, mark, melanize, muckrake, murk, nigrify, obfuscate, obnubilate, obscure, obumbrate, occult, occultate, overcast, overcloud, overshadow, oversmoke, pillory, rag, rail at, rate, rave against, reprimand, revile, scorch, sear, shade, shadow, singe, slander, slubber, slur, smear, smirch, smoke, smouch, smudge, smut, smutch, soil, somber, soot, spot, stain, stigmatize, sully, taint, tarnish, throw mud at, thunder against, tongue-lash, traduce, vilify, vituperate, yell at, yelp at