"sully" in the noun sense

1. Sully, Thomas Sully

United States painter (born in England) of portraits and historical scenes (1783-1872)

2. Sully, Duc de Sully, Maxmilien de Bethune

French statesman (1560-1641)

"sully" in the verb sense

1. defile, sully, corrupt, taint, cloud

place under suspicion or cast doubt upon

"sully someone's reputation"

2. tarnish, stain, maculate, sully, defile

make dirty or spotty, as by exposure to air also used metaphorically

"The silver was tarnished by the long exposure to the air"

"Her reputation was sullied after the affair with a married man"

3. defame, slander, smirch, asperse, denigrate, calumniate, smear, sully, besmirch

charge falsely or with malicious intent attack the good name and reputation of someone

"The journalists have defamed me!"

"The article in the paper sullied my reputation"

Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)

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