sully

Despite being explicitly prevented from blaming any party for a death, hearings can often descend into a blame game, with barristers trying to save or sully an organisation's reputation.

From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026

None of the high-born men he knows would sully their steel in the name of protecting the innocent.

From Salon ● Feb. 23, 2026

Macron almost immediately responded on X: "Shame on those who wanted to sully his memory," he wrote.

From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2025

Why would millennials, unable to own their own places, sully the site of our nostalgia by playing as landlords?

From Slate ● Apr. 3, 2024

He noticed it also and very carefully moved away so that my jacket would not sully his.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela

"This summit does not dignify anyone, rather, it dirties them, it sullies them. We Latin Americans have to defend ourselves so that they respect us."

From Reuters ● May 19, 2022

Trivializing the suffering of those targeted for extermination by comparing it to modern-day difficulties sullies the memory of the victims.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 31, 2022

Since I began working on the history of the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill, every time crude oil sullies U.S. waters and beaches, I wait for the same sad, misleading official narrative.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2021

No such fluff sullies the lexicon of Burke’s latest character.

From The Guardian ● Aug. 16, 2019

This rumor was circulated from house to house, like a drop of oil, which though first scarcely perceptible, sullies the fairest fabrics utterly.

From The International Monthly, Volume 4, No. 2, September, 1851 by Various

The rare opinion piece serves as Ellison’s acknowledgment that his family’s close association with President Trump has sullied his standing in Hollywood and beyond.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026

Plenty of Kobe Bryant fans began griping online about the Heat’s tactics, which they said sullied a legendary evening.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 11, 2026

But he has been tipped to potentially replace Thomas Tuchel as England boss after the World Cup and will not want his reputation sullied by a poor end to the season.

From Barron's ● Feb. 8, 2026

I'm not surprised to see air pollution, it's why we're doing the experiment, but I can't escape a feeling of being dirtied, contaminated… sullied by it.

From BBC ● Feb. 6, 2026

I throwed the other ones and Mr. Taylor’s sullied knife on the ground.

From "Elijah of Buxton" by Christopher Paul Curtis

As far back as the 1930s, during the infamous “Bodyline” tour, English bowlers were accused of sullying the game by aiming balls directly at Australian batsmen.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 21, 2025

"I think it's greedy - monetising something that is so pure like Test cricket feels like it is sullying the game. It just doesn't sit right with me."

From BBC ● Jan. 7, 2025

Dismayed by the trash sullying the river that the mosque sits on, he ordered a cleanup.

From New York Times ● Apr. 17, 2024

Miller has adamantly denied the charges and on Wednesday filed a defamation suit accusing Grisham of sullying his name.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 7, 2021

Ifemelu said, her voice rising, and then she was sobbing, apologizing to Aunty Uju, her own guilt spreading and sullying her.

From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie