"sullying" 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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