All words

sully

Meaning

To mar or stain the integrity or reputation of someone or something, thereby diminishing its honor or worth.

Examples by difficulty

Basic: Simple, everyday vocabulary — the easiest to read.

He knew his lies would sully the trust everyone had in him. The thought of his name being whispered with shame, of everyone seeing him as less than he was, made his stomach ache.

The sudden, unexplained leak of those private messages threatened to sully her years of hard work. She felt a cold dread as she imagined everyone seeing the raw, unguarded words, knowing it would make them question everything she'd built, diminishing the respect she’d fought so hard to earn.

The whispered rumors about the ancient map began to sully its perfect record. For years, it had guided explorers faithfully, but now, talk of a hidden betrayal threatened to ruin its good name, making everyone doubt the journeys it had already inspired.

Barnaby, after tripping and spilling grape juice on the fancy tablecloth, worried he'd forever sully its pristine white honor. He imagined future guests pointing and whispering, "That's the stain Barnaby made!" His grand Aunt Mildred would probably disown him for such a grave offense.

Bartholomew the badger, a renowned cheese sculptor, found his masterpiece, a life-sized brie owl, accidentally splattered with mustard. This unfortunate incident did not sully the owl's cheesy charm, but it did sully Bartholomew's reputation as a tidy artist, making his next gallery show a bit less prestigious.

Normal: Standard, everyday language.

He knew the rumors would sully his good name, tarnishing years of honest work. It wasn't fair, this attempt to stain his integrity and diminish the worth of everything he'd built.

He knew revealing the truth about the mining company’s illegal dumping would sully their pristine image. Years of lobbying and carefully crafted PR were about to be undone, forever tainting the trust they had built.

When the rumors about the faulty manufacturing spread, the once-proud company’s name was tarnished. Those whispers threatened to sully years of dedicated craftsmanship and the trust they had painstakingly built with their clientele, making their entire legacy feel cheap.

Barnaby's attempt to bake a cake for the bake sale was a noble effort, but the resulting grey, lumpy mass threatened to sully the entire event. He’d aimed for a fluffy vanilla cloud and ended up with something that looked like it had crawled out of a swamp.

Bartholomew the badger, a renowned truffle sniffer, was accused of deliberately trying to sully his rival Reginald's reputation. Whispers claimed Bartholomew had replaced Reginald's prize-winning truffle with a moldy potato, hoping to disgrace him and claim the coveted Golden Acorn award for himself.

Advanced: Richer vocabulary that stretches an upper-level reader.

He knew his actions would sully the good name he'd worked so hard to build. The mere suggestion of impropriety threatened to tarnish years of integrity, leaving a stain that would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to wash away.

The ancient pact, forged in the fires of necessity, was the bedrock of our existence. To sully its promises, to whisper doubts about its sacred tenets, was to invite ruin. It wasn't just a document; it was the fragile thread that kept our fractured kin from unraveling completely.

The village elders were furious. To think that years of careful conservation, of meticulously tending the ancient bioluminescent mosses that illuminated their subterranean city, could be so carelessly dismissed. This careless disregard, this outright refusal to acknowledge the delicate balance they'd maintained, threatened to sully the hard-won reputation of their people as stewards of the deep.

Mayor Mildred's annual pie-eating contest was legendary, an event of pure, unadulterated gluttony. But this year, a rogue squirrel, surprisingly agile and perhaps emboldened by spilled cider, attempted to pilfer a blueberry masterpiece. The ensuing kerfuffle, complete with flying pastry and a very indignant squirrel, threatened to sully the contest's esteemed legacy of edible chaos.

The esteemed baker, renowned for his gravity-defying gingerbread castles, found his reputation threatened when a rogue squirrel, intent on carb-loading, absconded with the king's miniature fondant throne. This audacious act threatened to sully years of meticulous artistry, transforming his sugary kingdom into a mere cautionary tale about rodent-proofing his royal confections.

Challenging: Rare, high-register vocabulary for serious word lovers.

His insinuation, a venomous whisper in the council chamber, threatened to sully the ambassador's impeccable record. The very notion of impropriety, even unsubstantiated, began to tarnish the respect he had painstakingly cultivated, leaving a palpable stain on his formerly unassailable honor.

The whispered accusations were enough to sully his hard-won reputation as a paragon of ethical arbitration. Despite years of unblemished probity, the insidious gossip threatened to diminish his worth in the eyes of the arbitration panel, a grievous injustice that would forever sully his legacy.

The committee's unsubstantiated accusations threatened to sully the reputation of Dr. Aris Thorne, a renowned xenoarchaeologist. Their public pronouncements, devoid of verifiable evidence, sought to sully his lifelong dedication to understanding extraterrestrial civilizations, diminishing the profound worth of his meticulously documented discoveries.

The disgraced impresario's bombastic pronouncements, intended to bolster his dwindling fame, only served to sully his already questionable artistic integrity. His egregious attempts at contrition, more akin to a theatrical tantrum, further sullied any residual respect the public might have grudgingly afforded him.

The esteemed Emperor of Glarth, whose legendary beard once inspired sonnets of pure alabaster, found his placid reign threatened by the scandalous revelation that his prized, bioluminescent space-slug, Bartholomew, had pilfered the royal collection of crystalline earwax. This ignominious event threatened to sully the emperor's otherwise unblemished legacy, transforming him from a sagacious sovereign to a mere procurer of pilfering gastropods.

Difficulty

Advanced — Less frequent words that stretch an upper-level vocabulary.

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