Besmirched

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Having experienced a loss of reputation or purity due to harmful actions or remarks Corrupted in character or standing through disparagement or blame Rendered unclean or dishonored as a consequence of negative associations or incidents
2. Suffering damage to one’s good name or honor by unjust criticism or harmful acts
3. Having one’s character or standing stained through association with disgrace or fault

Etymology: "Besmirched" is the past form of "besmirch," which goes back to Middle English "besmorchen," recorded in the form "besmorchid." Its roots run deeper than the modern spelling suggests: Middle English also had "bismotered," meaning "bespattered" or "soiled," and the two words seem to have belonged to the same family of muddy, dirtying imagery. The word was built on the prefix "be-," which once made verbs mean "to cover thoroughly" or "to affect all over," and the stem "smirch," which means to smear or stain. Because "besmirch" began as a literal word for making something dirty, its figurative sense of damaging a reputation is a later extension. A person's name could be smeared in the same way a coat could be, and that is the image the word still carries.

Synonyms: tainted, sullied, stained, disgraced, defiled

Antonyms: purified, cleansed, honored, restored, sanctified