Word.ws English Dictionary

unbesmirch

unbesmirch verb: to undo the effects of besmirching; to restore the reputation of.

Verb

unbesmirch (third-person singular simple present unbesmirches, present participle unbesmirching, simple past and past participle unbesmirched)

  1. (rare, transitive) To undo the effects of besmirching; to restore the reputation of.
    • And it is with sincere regret that I add, under obligations to truth, that the record fails to unbesmirch him.1874, United States Congress Reports of Committees, page 64
    • In an attempt to unbesmirch the innocent, please permit me to inform everyone that the person whose implacability was the impetus that ignited the heated verbal conflagration between the Park Bowl and Pilsner Pin Guin teams was actually a member of the latter.1986 October 2, Jerry R. De Young, “Tavern Guild Leagues Expecting”, in Bay Area Reporter, volume XVI, number 40, San Francisco, C.A.: Benro Enterprises, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 41

Examples of unbesmirch in a sentence

  • Just to unbesmirch my (well-sullied) reputation -- I wan^([sic]) not referring to early _American_ reformers, but to the original German reformers.1990 April 23, Dr. Eliot Shimoff, “L'Chaim issue # 106 part 4 of 4”, in soc.culture.jewish (Usenet):
  • "He'll ruin your image." / "Right, he'll unbesmirch it.1997, Lawrence Block, Even the Wicked, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 333:
  • I must redeem myself and unbesmirch my honour!1998 July 17, Giles Boutel, “grey matter”, in nz.general (Usenet):
  • I surely could speak to ... unbesmirch? . . . debesmirch? . . . reclaim my imperiled honor.2000 December 4, Valerie C. Scanlon, What Return Shall I Make, Bloomington, I.N.: Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN, page 271:

Forms of unbesmirch

third-person singular presentunbesmirches
present participleunbesmirching
past participleunbesmirched
pastunbesmirched

Origin of unbesmirch

From un- + besmirch.

Questions about unbesmirch

What does unbesmirch mean?
Unbesmirch means to undo the effects of besmirching; to restore the reputation of.
How do you use unbesmirch in a sentence?
Just to unbesmirch my (well-sullied) reputation -- I wan^([sic]) not referring to early _American_ reformers, but to the original German reformers.
What part of speech is unbesmirch?
Unbesmirch is a verb.
What is the past tense of unbesmirch?
The past tense of unbesmirch is unbesmirched.

Words near unbesmirch in the dictionary

  1. unbeset
  2. unbesiegable
  3. unbesiegeable
  4. unbesieged
  5. unbesmeared
  6. unbesmirch
  7. unbesmirchable
  8. unbesmirched
  9. unbesmirches
  10. unbesmirching
  11. unbesotted

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: unbesmirch (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.

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