smeared

verb

past tense of smear
1
as in painted
to rub an oily or sticky substance over the toddler gleefully smeared her hair and face with maple syrup

Synonyms & Similar Words

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2
as in libeled
to make untrue and harmful statements about he is willing to smear his opponent if doing so would win the election

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of smeared Camille can still picture Burke standing over her, fake blood smeared across her dress. — Nancy Dillon, Rolling Stone, 5 Aug. 2026 There’s rarely anything as straightforward as a kick drum, a hi-hat, or even a bassline here; instead, everything is smeared, all origins occulted in a thicket of echoes and reflections. — Philip Sherburne, Pitchfork, 4 Aug. 2026 In 2012 an angler pulled a brown bullhead out of a lake on the Vermont-Quebec border with what looked like tar smeared across its skin. — John Drake, Forbes.com, 27 July 2026 The women went to the bathroom to mop the bottoms of their eyes, where their makeup was smeared from crying. — Literary Hub, 23 July 2026 Cara Mangini spoons these luscious tomatoes over crostini that she’s smeared with goat cheese or ricotta, then tops each with extra basil. — Ginger Crichton, Midwest Living, 18 July 2026 Investigators said two operatives from Russia’s military traveled to Britain under aliases, smeared the poison on the front door of Skripal’s home and boarded a flight back to Moscow. — Faith Karimi, CNN Money, 11 July 2026 Ultimately, Goldsmith said that rally further smeared public perception of the white nationalist movement as violent and un-American — lessons that Rousseau took to heart. — Odette Yousef, NPR, 11 July 2026 The restaurant sources its birotes from Duran’s to make the open-face, bean and cheese-smeared breakfast sandwiches popular throughout Mexico. — Jenn Harris, Los Angeles Times, 2 July 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for smeared
  1. painted
  2. humiliated
  3. coated
  4. disgraced
  5. daubed
  6. slandered
  7. stained
  8. maligned
Verb
  • Collapsed healthcare The doctor also painted a daunting portrait of the current state of public health services in Cuba.
    — Nora Gámez Torres, Miami Herald, 31 Aug. 2026
  • The composure of Amélie, and the decidedly wild and clownish manner in which she’s painted, can’t be tamed into order, elegance, or beauty.
    — Zachary Fine, New Yorker, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of painted
Verb
  • In their first national title game, the Wildcats humiliated Oklahoma in the national semifinal by 44, and in their second, demoralized Michigan in the title game by 17.
    — Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 18 Aug. 2026
  • After being publicly humiliated by Daemon Targaryen and lured to switch sides (with his dragon) to the Greens by Ormund Hightower, party animal Ulf is still drunk and MIA when the battle starts.
    — Bryan Alexander, USA Today, 10 Aug. 2026
Definition of humiliated
Verb
  • Dredge each piece of chicken in the flour until well coated on both sides, shaking off any excess.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 25 Aug. 2026
  • To help out with that legibility, the hour and minutes hands are coated in Super-LumiNova, alongside touches of white lacquer in the 30-minute counter and the small second hand.
    — Nicole Hoey, Robb Report, 20 Aug. 2026
Definition of coated
Verb
  • Eugenie, who is twelfth in line to the British throne, is the second daughter of King Charles III’s disgraced younger brother, Andrew Mountbatten Windsor.
    — Jack Guy, CNN Money, 18 Aug. 2026
  • The pair’s announcement comes shortly after RadarOnline reported that Eugenie’s father, disgraced former Prince Andrew, will not meet Adelaide in person.
    — Allison DeGrushe, StyleCaster, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of disgraced
Verb
  • The dimming sun and a few gauzy clouds are daubed across the sky.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 22 July 2026
  • One of them, at the centre of a group outside Ex Convento del Carmen, has been thickly daubed with red paint, as if to look like blood.
    — Jacob Whitehead, New York Times, 26 June 2026
Definition of daubed
Verb
  • In court filings, David Brouillette said that his second ex-wife had slandered him.
    — Julia Ainsley, NBC news, 17 July 2026
  • Now, the ultimate question of whether Walters slandered Miller will return to the district court.
    — Dale Denwalt, Oklahoman, 29 Jan. 2026
Definition of slandered
Verb
  • Like all silicone they will get stained by more pigmented foods.
    — Wilder Davies, Bon Appetit Magazine, 28 Aug. 2026
  • But even the most dependable pieces eventually become too stained, scratched, or mismatched for food storage.
    — Melissa Locker, Southern Living, 24 Aug. 2026
Definition of stained
Verb
  • Slack continues to be a bright spot in the results — a major reversal from a couple years ago, when the company was maligned for paying too much to acquire the workplace messaging app during the Covid-19 pandemic.
    — Kevin Stankiewicz, CNBC, 27 Aug. 2026
  • City Hall is extending the deadline for New Yorkers seeking an exemption to the highly controversial — and much maligned —pied-à-terre tax law, Mayor Mamdani announced Saturday.
    — Thomas Tracy, New York Daily News, 1 Aug. 2026
Definition of maligned

Browse Nearby Words

smear
smeared
smearing
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Cite this Entry

“Smeared.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/smeared. Accessed 1 Sep. 2026.

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