smearverb
uk/smɪər/us/smɪr/smear verb (SPREAD)
[ T usually + adv/prep ] to spread a liquid or a thick substance over a surface:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Spreading and scattering
- all over the place idiom
- bedaub
- bestrew
- billow
- circulate
- fan out
- go round (somewhere)
- go/do the rounds idiom
- percolate
- radial
- radiate
- slap
- sprawl
- spread
- spread out
- sprinkling
- straggle
- stretch
- strew
- sweep
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smear verb (ACCUSE)
[ T ] to publicly accuse someone of something unpleasant, unreasonable, or unlikely to be true in order to harm their reputation:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Damaging reputation
- besmirch
- black mark
- blacken
- blot
- blot your copybook idiom
- calumniate
- dog
- drag sb's name through the mire/mud idiom
- give a dog a bad name idiom
- hurl/throw/sling mud at sb idiom
- impugn
- mud
- poison
- scurrilous
- show someone in a bad light idiom
- slander
- stab
- stain
- sully
- taint
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smearnoun [ C ]
uk/smɪər/us/smɪr/smear noun [ C ] (SPREAD)
a dirty mark made by spreading a liquid or a thick substance over a surface:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Dirt & untidiness
- a dog's breakfast idiom
- bloodstain
- blot
- clutter
- contaminant
- contaminate
- defile
- filthiness
- fleck
- grime
- gunge
- gunk
- muck
- pollutant
- slob
- slovenly
- slut
- smudge
- speck
- stain
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smear noun [ C ] (ACCUSING)
an attempt to harm someone's reputation by publicly accusing them of something that is unpleasant, unreasonable, or unlikely to be true:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Damaging reputation
- besmirch
- black mark
- blacken
- blot
- blot your copybook idiom
- calumniate
- dog
- drag sb's name through the mire/mud idiom
- give a dog a bad name idiom
- hurl/throw/sling mud at sb idiom
- impugn
- mud
- poison
- scurrilous
- show someone in a bad light idiom
- slander
- stab
- stain
- sully
- taint
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smear noun [ C ] (MEDICAL TEST)
UK also smear test, US pap smear a medical test in which cells from a woman's cervix (= entrance to the womb) are removed and examined to discover if there is any disease
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Medical examination
- audiology
- biopsy
- CAT scan
- cervical smear
- check-up
- clinically
- colonoscopy
- ECG
- electroencephalogram
- laparoscopic
- laparoscopy
- mammogram
- palpate
- palpation
- PET scan
- pregnancy test
- screening
- sonogram
- specimen
- ultrasound
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