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Definition of "smirch" [smirch]

  • To soil, stain, or dirty with or as if with a smearing agent: "their tough, hostile faces, smirched by the grime and rust” ( Henry Roth). (verb-transitive)
  • To dishonor; defame. (verb-transitive)
  • Something, such as a blot, smear, or stain, that smirches. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "smirch" in a sentence
  • "Lewis puts this very well, Eugenics have made certain that only demi-gods will now be born: psycho-analysis that none of them shall lose or smirch his divinity: economics that they shall have to hand all that demi-gods require."
  • "Martin, she seemed to see the smirch left upon him by his surroundings."
  • "Every hand but his was black with soot, and his was guiltless of the smirch of Hooniah's pot."