sully

CEFRC2

/ˈsʌli/

verb · noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To damage someone's reputation or make something dirty.

  2. 02

    verb

    Extra detail

    To become soiled or tarnished.

Examples

  • I wouldn't want to sully your good name.

  • He did not wish to sully his hands with gardening.

At a glance

Sits at C2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. To corrupt or damage.

  2. To soil or stain; to dirty.

noun

Extra meaning

  1. A blemish.

More examples

In context

  • She tried to sully her rival’s reputation with a suggestive comment.

  • His nether garment was of yellow nankeen, closely fitted to the shape, and tied at his bunches of knees by large knots of white ribbon, a good deal sullied by use.

  • THoſe Ills your Anceſtors have done, / Romans, are now become your own ; / And they will coſt you dear, / Unleſs you ſoon repair / The falling Temples which the Gods provoke, / And Statues ſully’d yet with Sacrilegious Smoke.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The recent scandal threatened to blank the politician's hard-earned reputation.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

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 defile...