Meaning & use
sullied
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“sullied” is a form of “sully”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
verbtransitiveliteraryfigurative
Spoiled the good name or purity of something, especially its honor or reputation.
Grammar: Takes an object: the scandal sullied his name.
Patterns
- sully someone's reputation
- sully something with something
The scandal sullied the senator's reputation for honesty.
She refused to let gossip sully her family's name.
One careless remark sullied years of careful diplomacy.
verbtransitiveliteraryrare
Made something dirty or stained.
Grammar: Takes an object; this literal use is now rare and sounds poetic.
Patterns
- sully something with something
Mud sullied the white tablecloth.
Smoke from the factory sullied the clean mountain air.
The bride was careful not to sully her dress.
Word forms
| base form | sully |
|---|---|
| third person singular | sullies |
| -ing form | sullying |
Common combinations
- sully a reputation
- Rumors threatened to sully the company's reputation.
- sully someone's name
- He would not allow anyone to sully his grandfather's name.
- sullied by scandal
- The league was sullied by scandal after the match-fixing news.
- sully the memory
- Do not sully the memory of those who died.
Synonyms and how they differ
- tarnished
- Tarnished is the most common choice for damaged reputations and suggests a gradual loss of shine.
- besmirched
- Besmirched is more literary and stresses a stain put on someone's honor.
- stained
- Stained works for both reputation and cloth, while sullied sounds more formal.
- tainted
- Tainted suggests something has been contaminated by something bad, often invisibly.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: sullied or soiled?
sullied vs soiled
Soiled means made dirty in a literal sense. Sullied is most often about reputation.
Practice
The bribery story ___ the mayor's reputation.
Choose one answer.
Sullied means damaged. The other verbs begin with similar letters but do not mean to damage.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “sullied”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.