English noun: Sully | |||
1. | Sully (person) United States painter (born in England) of portraits and historical scenes (1783-1872) | ||
Synonyms | Thomas Sully | ||
Instance hypernym | painter | ||
2. | Sully (person) French statesman (1560-1641) | ||
Synonyms | Duc de Sully, Maxmilien de Bethune | ||
Instance hypernym | national leader, solon, statesman | ||
English verb: sully | |||
1. | sully (contact) place under suspicion or cast doubt upon | ||
Samples | Sully someone's reputation. | ||
Synonyms | cloud, corrupt, defile, taint | ||
Pattern of use | Somebody ----s something. Something ----s somebody. Something ----s something | ||
Broader (hypernym) | deflower, impair, mar, spoil, vitiate | ||
2. | sully (contact) make dirty or spotty, as by exposure to air; also used metaphorically | ||
Samples | The silver was tarnished by the long exposure to the air. Her reputation was sullied after the affair with a married man. | ||
Synonyms | defile, maculate, stain, tarnish | ||
Pattern of use | Something ----s. Somebody ----s something. Something ----s something | ||
Broader (hypernym) | blob, blot, fleck, spot | ||
Narrower (hyponym) | darken | ||
3. | sully (communication) charge falsely or with malicious intent; attack the good name and reputation of someone | ||
Samples | The journalists have defamed me!. The article in the paper sullied my reputation. | ||
Synonyms | asperse, besmirch, calumniate, defame, denigrate, slander, smear, smirch | ||
Pattern of use | Somebody ----s somebody. Something ----s somebody | ||
Broader (hypernym) | accuse, charge | ||
Narrower (hyponym) | assassinate, badmouth, drag through the mud, libel, malign, traduce | ||