blemish
Syllables: blem·ish/ˈblɛmɪʃ/
blemish noun: a small flaw which spoils the appearance of something, a stain, a spot.
Noun
blemish (plural blemishes)
- A small flaw which spoils the appearance of something, a stain, a spot.
- Ye shall offer at your own will a male without blemish, of the beeves, of the sheep, or of the goats.1769, Oxford Standard Text, “King James Bible”, in Leviticus, 22, xix
- Any foot shape deviating from this model is conceived as a blemish, and the animal is unclean.1997, Jean Soler, “5: The Semiotics of Food in the Bible”, in Carole Counihan, Penny Van Esterik, editors, Food and Culture: A Reader, page 61
- A moral defect; a character flaw.
- As piety is the peculiar ornament of old people, so the want of it is a peculiar blemish in their character.1825, A Sermon, The Christian Magazine, volume 2, page 298
- The processes of categorization, stereotyping, discrimination, and self-fulfilling prophecy can also apply to stigmas based on blemishes of individual character.2003, Todd F. Heatherton, The Social Psychology of Stigma, page 103
Verb
blemish (third-person singular simple present blemishes, present participle blemishing, simple past and past participle blemished)
- To spoil the appearance of.
- we see ordinarie examples by this licence which wonderfully blemisheth the authoritie and lustre of our law, never to stay upon one sentence, but to run from one to another judge, to decide one same case.1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC
- Generally, varieties in current use for processing are resilient, if not wholly resistant to blemishing diseases and disorders.2009, Michael A. Kirkman, “Chapter 2: Global Markets fo Processed Potato Products”, in Jaspreet Singh, Lovedeep Kaur, editors, Advances in Potato Chemistry and Technology, page 40
- To tarnish (reputation, character, etc.); to defame.
- There had nothing passed betwixt us that might blemish reputation.1600, Francis Vere, Commentaries of the Divers Pieces of Service
blemish meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
blemish in Hindi
- blemish, mark
- कलंक kalaṅk
- blemish, error, imperfection
- खोट khoṭ
blemish in Tamil
- கறை, கறைப்படுத்து, குற்றம், கெடு, மாசு, மாசுபடுத்து
blemish in Marathi
- blemish, defect, flaw
- बिंग biṅga
blemish in Urdu
- داغ, کھوٹ, ٹیکا, آبرو بگاڑنا, بدنام کرنا, بٹا لگانا
More languagesFewer languages
- blemish in Bengali
- কলঙ্ক koloṅko, দোষ dōś
- blemish in Telugu
- కళంకము kaḷaṅkamu
- blemish in Malayalam
- കളങ്കം, ന്യൂനത, വെെകല്യം, ദോഷം
- blemish in Kannada
- ದೋಷ, ಕಳಂಕ, ನ್ಯೂನತೆ, ಕಲೆ
- blemish in Vietnamese
- vết nhơ
Examples of blemish in a sentence
- It comes as a surprise to some people, but blemishes can strike at any age.2011, Robert Jones, Makeup Makeovers Beauty Bible: Expert Secrets for Stunning Transformations, page 119:
- There is no reason to think that the enlivening possible blemish was his hypocritical show of repentance, since there are so many other candidate blemishes to choose among.2008, Annette Baier, Death and Character: Further Reflections on Hume, page 46:
Synonyms of blemish
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of blemish
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | blemishes |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | blemishes |
| present participle | blemishing |
| past participle | blemished |
| past | blemished |
Origin of blemish
From Middle English blemisshen, blemissen, from Old French blemiss-, stem of Old French blemir, blesmir (“make pale, injure, wound, bruise”) (French blêmir), from Old Frankish *blesmijan, *blasmijan (“to make pale”), from Old Frankish *blasmī (“pale”), from Proto-Germanic *blasaz (“white, pale”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to shine”). Cognate with Dutch bles (“white spot”), German blass (“pale”), Old English āblered (“bare, uncovered, bald, shaven”).
Words formed from blemish
Words that rhyme with blemish
Questions about blemish
- What does blemish mean?
- Blemish means a small flaw which spoils the appearance of something, a stain, a spot.
- What is blemish in Hindi?
- Blemish in Hindi is कलंक (kalaṅk), खोट (khoṭ). See Blemish meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use blemish in a sentence?
- It comes as a surprise to some people, but blemishes can strike at any age.
- What part of speech is blemish?
- Blemish can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce blemish?
- Blemish is pronounced /ˈblɛmɪʃ/.
- What is the plural of blemish?
- The plural of blemish is blemishes.
Words near blemish in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: blemish (page history and authors); कलंक (Hindi) (page history and authors); blemish (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); बिंग (Marathi) (page history and authors); blemish (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); blemish (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); blemish (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-blemish.ogg.
Cite this entry: “blemish.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/blemish. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.