1. Slanderous defamation
   "The company suffered from the smear spread by its competitors";
   - vilification, malignment
    
2. An act that brings discredit to the person who does it
   "he made a huge smear on his copybook";
   - blot, smirch, spot, stain
    
3. A thin tissue or blood sample spread on a glass slide and stained for cytologic examination and diagnosis under a microscope
   "The pathologist examined the cytologic smear for signs of abnormal cells";
   - cytologic smear, cytosmear
    
4. A mark, stain, or discolouration, especially one made in a messy or accidental way
   "he had a smear on his cheek";
   - smudge, spot, blot, daub, smirch

1. Apply thickly or clumsily to a surface
   "smear the wall with paint";
   - daub
    
2. Spread thickly or messily
   "The child smeared chocolate all over his face"
    
3. Make a smudge on; soil by smudging
   "He smeared the document with his dirty fingers";
   - blur, smudge, smutch
    
4. Charge falsely or with malicious intent; attack the good name and reputation of someone
   "The journalists have smeared me!";
   - defame, slander, smirch, asperse, denigrate, calumniate [formal], sully, besmirch

Derived forms: smears, smearing, smeared

Type of: accuse, begrime, bemire [archaic], blemish, calumniation, calumny, charge, colly [archaic], cover, cytologic specimen, defamation, defect, dirty, error, fault, grime, hatchet job, mar, mistake, obloquy, rub, soil, traducement

Encyclopedia: Smear, Steve