As of 2019, Starbucks opens a new store every 15 hours in China. The coffee chain has grown by 700% over the past decade.
defame, slander, smirch, asperse, denigrate, calumniate, smear, sully, besmirch
(verb) 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”
tarnish, stain, maculate, sully, defile
(verb) 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”
defile, sully, corrupt, taint, cloud
(verb) place under suspicion or cast doubt upon; “sully someone’s reputation”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
sullied (comparative more sullied, superlative most sullied)
defiled or tainted, soiled or stained.
• unsullied
sullied
simple past tense and past participle of sully
• diuells, ill-used, illudes
Source: Wiktionary
Sul"ly, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Sullied; p. pr. & vb. n. Sullying.] Etym: [OE. sulien, AS. sylian, fr. sol mire; akin to G. suhle mire, sich, sühlen to wallow, Sw. söla to bemire, Dan. söle, Goth. bisaulijan to defile.]
Definition: To soil; to dirty; to spot; to tarnish; to stain; to darken; -- used literally and figuratively; as, to sully a sword; to sully a person's reputation. Statues sullied yet with sacrilegious smoke. Roscommon. No spots to sully the brightness of this solemnity. Atterbury.
Sul"ly, v. i.
Definition: To become soiled or tarnished. Silvering will sully and canker more than gilding. Bacon.
Sul"ly, n.; pl. Sullies (.
Definition: Soil; tarnish; stain. A noble and triumphant merit breaks through little spots and sullies in his reputation. Spectator.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
22 June 2025
(noun) an elongated leather strip (or a strip of similar material) for binding things together or holding something in position
As of 2019, Starbucks opens a new store every 15 hours in China. The coffee chain has grown by 700% over the past decade.