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Mire vs Besmirch - What's the difference?

mire | besmirch | Synonyms |

Mire is a synonym of besmirch.


As a noun mire

is .

As a verb besmirch is

to make dirty; to soil.

mire

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) , whence Old English mos (English moss).

Noun

(en noun)
  • Deep mud; moist, spongy earth.
  • * When Caliban was lazy and neglected his work, Ariel (who was invisible to all eyes but Prospero’s) would come slyly and pinch him, and sometimes tumble him down in the mire .'' (, ''Tales from Shakespeare , Hatier, coll. « Les Classiques pour tous » n° 223, p. 51)
  • An undesirable situation, a predicament.
    • Synonyms
    * (deep mud) peatland, quag
    Hypernyms
    * (deep mud) wetland
    Hyponyms
    * (deep mud) bog, fen
    Derived terms
    * mire crow * mire drum * miry * in the mire * quagmire

    Verb

    (mir)
  • To weigh down.
  • To cause or permit to become stuck in mud; to plunge or fix in mud.
    • to mire a horse or wagon
  • To soil with mud or foul matter.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Smirched thus and mired with infamy.

    Etymology 2

    Perhaps related to Middle Dutch miere (Dutch mier). Cognate with Old Norse maurr, Danish myre. All probably from (etyl)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) An ant.

    • Anagrams

    * ----

    besmirch

    English

    Verb

    (es)
  • To make dirty; to soil.
  • To tarnish something, especially someone's reputation; to debase.
    • The newspaper was on a campaign to besmirch the actor.