| English Dictionary |
SULLY (sullied)
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| IPA (US): |  |
Dictionary entry overview: What does Sully mean?
• SULLY (noun)
The noun SULLY has 2 senses:
1. United States painter (born in England) of portraits and historical scenes (1783-1872)
2. French statesman (1560-1641)
Familiarity information: SULLY used as a noun is rare.
• SULLY (verb)
The verb SULLY has 3 senses:
1. place under suspicion or cast doubt upon
2. make dirty or spotty, as by exposure to air; also used metaphorically
3. charge falsely or with malicious intent; attack the good name and reputation of someone
Familiarity information: SULLY used as a verb is uncommon.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
United States painter (born in England) of portraits and historical scenes (1783-1872)
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Synonyms:
Sully; Thomas Sully
Instance hypernyms:
painter (an artist who paints)
Sense 2
Meaning:
French statesman (1560-1641)
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Synonyms:
Duc de Sully; Maxmilien de Bethune; Sully
Instance hypernyms:
national leader; solon; statesman (a man who is a respected leader in national or international affairs)
| Conjugation: |
... he / she / it sullies Past simple: sullied
Past participle: sullied
-ing form: sullying
Sense 1
Meaning:
Place under suspicion or cast doubt upon
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Synonyms:
cloud; corrupt; defile; sully; taint
Context example:
sully someone's reputation
Hypernyms (to "sully" is one way to...):
deflower; impair; mar; spoil; vitiate (make imperfect)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something
Sense 2
Meaning:
Make dirty or spotty, as by exposure to air; also used metaphorically
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Synonyms:
defile; maculate; stain; sully; tarnish
Context example:
Her reputation was sullied after the affair with a married man
Hypernyms (to "sully" is one way to...):
blob; blot; fleck; spot (make a spot or mark onto)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "sully"):
darken (tarnish or stain)
Sentence frames:
Something ----s
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Sense 3
Meaning:
Charge falsely or with malicious intent; attack the good name and reputation of someone
Classified under:
Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing
Synonyms:
asperse; besmirch; calumniate; defame; denigrate; slander; smear; smirch; sully
Context example:
The article in the paper sullied my reputation
Hypernyms (to "sully" is one way to...):
accuse; charge (blame for, make a claim of wrongdoing or misbehavior against)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "sully"):
assassinate (destroy or damage seriously, as of someone's reputation)
libel (print slanderous statements against)
badmouth; drag through the mud; malign; traduce (speak unfavorably about)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Context examples
"I shall sully the purity of your floor," said he, "but you must excuse me for once."
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
When she had administered these restoratives, as I was still quite hysterical, and unable to control my sobs, she put me on the sofa, with a shawl under my head, and the handkerchief from her own head under my feet, lest I should sully the cover; and then, sitting herself down behind the green fan or screen I have already mentioned, so that I could not see her face, ejaculated at intervals, Mercy on us! letting those exclamations off like minute guns.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
From this state of humiliation, she was roused, at the end of ten minutes, to a pleasanter feeling, by seeing, not Mr. Thorpe, but Mr. Tilney, within three yards of the place where they sat; he seemed to be moving that way, but he did not see her, and therefore the smile and the blush, which his sudden reappearance raised in Catherine, passed away without sullying her heroic importance.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
When viewed in the light of formal logic, there is not one thing of which to be ashamed; but nevertheless a shame rises within me at the recollection, and in the pride of my manhood I feel that my manhood has in unaccountable ways been smirched and sullied.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
He drew over the picture the sheet of thin paper on which I was accustomed to rest my hand in painting, to prevent the cardboard from being sullied.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
You make me a liar by such language: you sully my honour.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
He was dressed now: he still looked pale, but he was no longer gory and sullied.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
That woman, who has so abused your long- suffering, so sullied your name, so outraged your honour, so blighted your youth, is not your wife, nor are you her husband.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
I did wrong: I would have sullied my innocent flower—breathed guilt on its purity: the Omnipotent snatched it from me.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Only one thing, I know: you said you were not as good as you should like to be, and that you regretted your own imperfection;—one thing I can comprehend: you intimated that to have a sullied memory was a perpetual bane.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
| Learn English with... Proverbs |
"Where there is plenty of water, it rains; where there is abundant heat, the sun shines." (Bhutanese proverb)
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"The grass is always greener on the other side." (Danish proverb)