smear

1. 1.

   stain by smearing or daubing with a dirty substance

   Broaderdirty

   Narrowermoilsmirch
2. 2.

   make a smudge on; soil by smudging

   Synonymsblursmudgesmutch

   Broaderrub

   Narrowerresmudgedust
3. 3.

   cover (a surface) by smearing (a substance) over it

   “smear the wall with paint”

   “daub the ceiling with plaster”

   Synonymsdaub

   Broadercover

   Narrowerblood
4. 4.

   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”

   Synonymsdefameslandersmirchaspersedenigratecalumniatesullybesmirch

   Broadercharge

   Narrower

Other forms of smear

plural

smears·

past tense

smeared·

present participle

smearing·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about smear

What does smear mean?

smear means "slanderous defamation". That is the primary sense; the word has 8 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in smear?

smear has 1 syllable: smear. In IPA it is /ˈsmɪɹ/.

What is another word for smear?

Close synonyms include vilification, malignment, cytologic smear, cytosmear, smudge. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is smear a common word?

smear is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.