sully
Plural: sullies
Noun
- United States painter (born in England) of portraits and historical scenes (1783-1872)
- French statesman (1560-1641)
- A blemish.
Verb
Verb Forms: sullied, sullying, sullies
- To soil, stain, or tarnish.
- place under suspicion or cast doubt upon
- "sully someone's reputation"
- make dirty or spotty, as by exposure to air; also used metaphorically
- charge falsely or with malicious intent; attack the good name and reputation of someone
- To soil or stain; to dirty.
- To corrupt or damage.
- To become soiled or tarnished.
Examples
- A misplayed word can SULLY an otherwise perfect game strategy.
- He did not wish to sully his hands with gardening.
- She tried to sully her rival’s reputation with a suggestive comment.
Origin / Etymology
From Middle English sulen, sulien (“to become dirty; to defile, pollute, taint”), from Old English sylian (“to soil, pollute; to sully”), from Proto-West Germanic *sulwōn, *sulwijan (“to make dirty; to sully”), from Proto-Indo-European *sūl- (“thick liquid, muck”), perhaps conflated partially with Old French souillier (“to soil”) (modern French souiller) from the same Germanic source. The word is cognate with Danish søle (“to sully”), West Flemish seulewen (“to sully”) (Middle Dutch soluwen (“to sully”)), German sühlen (“to sully”), Old Saxon sulian (“to sully”), Swedish söla (“to sully”). Also compare Middle English sulpen (“to defile, pollute”), Old English solian (“to soil, become defiled, make or become foul”), and see more at soil.
Synonyms
asperse, besmirch, calumniate, cloud, corrupt, defame, defile, denigrate, Duc de Sully, maculate, Maxmilien de Bethune, slander, smear, smirch, stain, taint, tarnish, Thomas Sully, sowl
Scrabble Score: 8
sully: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordsully: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
sully: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary