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1. (of someone's image or good reputation) damage, place under suspicion or cast doubt upon
   "sully someone's reputation";
   - defile, corrupt, taint, cloud, tarnish, soil, stain
    
2. Make dirty or spotty, as by exposure to air
   "Her reputation was sullied after the affair with a married man";
   - tarnish, stain, maculate [literary], defile, soil
    
3. Charge falsely or with malicious intent; attack the good name and reputation of someone
   "The article in the paper sullied my reputation";
   - defame, slander, smirch, asperse, denigrate, calumniate [formal], smear, besmirch

1. United States painter (born in England) of portraits and historical scenes (1783-1872)
   - Thomas Sully
    
2. French statesman (1560-1641)
   - Duc de Sully, Maxmilien de Bethune

Derived forms: sullied, sullies, sullying

Type of: accuse, blob, blot, charge, deflower, fleck, impair, mar, national leader, painter, pollute, spoil, spot, statesman, statesperson, vitiate

Encyclopedia: Sully, Quebec