Adjacent Words

Smirch definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SMIRCH, v.t. smerch. [from murk, murky.] To cloud; to dusk; to soil; as, to smirch the face. [Low.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a blemish made by dirt; "he had a smudge on his cheek" [syn: smudge, spot, blot, daub, smear, smirch, slur]
2: an act that brings discredit to the person who does it; "he made a huge blot on his copybook" [syn: blot, smear, smirch, spot, stain] v
1: smear so as to make dirty or stained [syn: smirch, besmirch]
2: 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" [syn: defame, slander, smirch, asperse, denigrate, calumniate, smear, sully, besmirch]

Merriam Webster's

transitive verb Etymology: Middle English smorchen Date: 15th century 1. a. to make dirty, stained, or discolored ; sully b. to smear with something that stains or dirties 2. to bring discredit or disgrace on • smirch noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v.tr. mark, soil, or smear (a thing, a person's reputation, etc.). --n. 1 a spot or stain. 2 a blot (on one's character etc.). Etymology: ME: orig. unkn.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Smirch Smirch, v. t. [From the root of smear.] To smear with something which stains, or makes dirty; to smutch; to begrime; to soil; to sully. I'll . . . with a kind of umber smirch my face. --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Smirch Smirch, n. A smutch; a dirty stain.

Moby Thesaurus

aspersion, attaint, badge of infamy, bar sinister, baton, bedarken, bedaub, begrime, bend sinister, besmear, besmirch, besmoke, besmutch, besoil, bespatter, bestain, black, black eye, black mark, blacken, blackening, blackwash, bloodstain, blot, blotch, blur, brand, broad arrow, call names, censure, champain, charcoal, cork, dab, darken, darkening, daub, defile, denigrate, denigration, dinge, dirty, discolor, disparagement, ebonize, engage in personalities, eyesore, fleck, flick, flyspeck, foul, grime, heap dirt upon, imputation, ink, macula, maculation, macule, mark, mark of Cain, melanization, melanize, muckrake, murk, nigrification, nigrify, onus, oversmoke, patch, pillorying, point champain, reflection, reprimand, reproach, revile, scorch, sear, shade, shading, shadow, singe, slubber, slur, smear, smirching, smoke, smooch, smouch, smudge, smudging, smut, smutch, smutching, soil, soilage, soilure, soot, spatter, speck, speckle, splash, splatter, splotch, spot, stain, stigma, stigmatism, stigmatization, stigmatize, sully, taint, tarnish, throw mud at, vilify