Sully vs Smudge - What's the difference?
sully | smudge | Related terms |
to soil or stain; to dirty
* Roscommon
to damage or corrupt
* Atterbury
To become soiled or tarnished.
* Francis Bacon
A blemish; a smear.
Dense smoke, such as that used for fumigation.
(US) A heap of damp combustibles partially ignited and burning slowly, placed on the windward side of a house, tent, etc. to keep off mosquitoes or other insects.
To obscure by blurring; to smear.
To soil or smear with dirt.
To use dense smoke to protect from insects.
To stifle or smother with smoke.
(North American Indigenous) To burn herbs as a cleansing ritual.
Sully is a related term of smudge.
As verbs the difference between sully and smudge
is that sully is to soil or stain; to dirty while smudge is to obscure by blurring; to smear.As a noun smudge is
a blemish; a smear.sully
English
Alternative forms
* (l)Verb
- He did not wish to sully his hands with gardening.
- statues sullied yet with sacrilegious smoke
- He did not wish to sully his reputation with an ill-mannered comment.
- no spots to sully the brightness of this solemnity
- Silvering will sully and canker more than gilding.
smudge
English
Etymology 1
Noun
(en noun)- There was a smudge on the paper.
- (Grose)
- (Bartlett)