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Glite Dictionary
🗣️ To harm reputation 🗣️ A bad reputation 🧼 To make dirty 🧼 A dirty mark
to smirch

to smirch

1 9.9
To damage someone's name by saying false things about them
  • verb
  • /smɪrʧ/
  • Archaic
: difamar
  • She felt betrayed when her colleagues smirched her character during the meeting.

Examples

  • Rumors can easily smirch someone's reputation if they are spread without evidence.

  • There's no frozen but smirching of Moana on this podcast.

  • The article smirched the politician's image by making unfounded accusations against him.

Synonyms

to discredit
vsto smirch
78 6.3

To harm someone's reputation so others stop trusting them

is the act of false reputational harm that targets trust specifically
to smear
vsto smirch
49 6.1

To make false or unfair statements to hurt someone's reputation

is similar but may include smaller or private attacks
to denigrate
vsto smirch
40 7.8

To say bad things about someone without a good reason to make them seem less important

is the false harmful attack that stresses malicious intent rather than criticism
to vilify
vsto smirch
39 7.9

To say or write bad things about someone to harm them

is the false damaging action that specifically aims to harm reputation
to slander
vsto smirch
  • Specialized
31 6.3

To say false things that damage someone's reputation

is the general false damaging act beyond spoken words
to malign
vsto smirch
30 7.7

To say harmful or false things about someone to hurt them

is the malicious false harm with stronger focus on intent
to sully
vsto smirch
25 7.6

Make someone's good name seem bad

is the false malicious attack with emphasis on deliberate accusation
to defame
vsto smirch
  • Formal
19 6.8

To say false things about someone that harm their good name

covers the same wrongful harm often with deliberate intent
to besmirch
vsto smirch
  • Formal
15 8.8

Make a person or company look bad by saying bad things about them

is the intentional false harm with emphasis on malicious intent
to drag through the mud
vsto smirch
  • Informal
13 7.9

To speak badly about someone in public to hurt their reputation

is the false malicious damage that emphasizes intentional reputation injury
to tarnish reputation
vsto smirch
8 6.0

Damage the respect and good opinion people have of someone or something

is the false damaging action that focuses on malicious intent
to libel
vsto smirch
  • Specialized
4 8.2

To make a false written statement that harms someone's reputation

is the broader act of falsely damaging reputation, not only publication
to throw dirt
vsto smirch
  • Informal
2 7.2

Say bad things about someone to harm their reputation

is the deliberate false damaging act rather than casual negative talk
to calumniate
vsto smirch
  • Formal
1 9.9

To say false things about someone to harm their reputation

is the act of falsely damaging reputation with malicious intent
to asperse
vsto smirch
  • Formal
1 9.9

To say things that are not true about someone to hurt their reputation

focuses on the same false attack but in general usage

Antonyms

to exonerate
  • Formal
77 8.2

To say officially that someone is not guilty of a crime

to vindicate
37 8.6

To show someone or something was right and not to blame

How Damaging

to vilify
39 7.9
to defame
  • Formal
19 6.8
to smear
49 6.1
to smirch
  • Archaic
1 9.9
to besmirch
  • Formal
15 8.8
to tarnish
65 4.9

Surface Forms

smirch infinitive
smirched past
smirched past participle
smirching present participle
smirches third person singular

Etymology

Smirch feels like the same idea as smear, first for a dirty mark and later for a mark on a person's name; people used the image of a stain for a damaged reputation. So to smirch someone is to 'damage' their reputation as if you had put a stain on their name.