smirch

1. 1.

   smear so as to make dirty or stained

   Synonymsbesmirch

   Broadersmear
2. 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”

   Synonymsdefameslanderaspersedenigratecalumniatesmearsullybesmirch

   Broadercharge

   Narrowerassassinatelibelbadmouth

Other forms of smirch

plural

smirches·

past tense

smirched·

present participle

smirching·

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 smirch

What does smirch mean?

smirch means "a blemish made by dirt". That is the primary sense; the word has 4 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in smirch?

smirch has 1 syllable under the regular spelling rules, and is not divided further. It is not in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, so that comes from how the word is written rather than from a recorded pronunciation, and no stress or phonetic transcription is claimed for it.

What is another word for smirch?

Close synonyms include smudge, spot, blot, daub, smear. 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 smirch a common word?

smirch is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.