Definition

Verb: - To smear: To damage someone's reputation by making false or malicious statements. - To sully: To tarnish or make something dirty, especially in a moral or figurative sense, such as honor or history.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Đừng cố bôi nhọ đối thủ của bạn. (Do not try to smear your opponent.)
  • Những bài báo đó chỉ nhằm bôi nhọ thanh danh của ông ấy. (Those articles only aim to sully his good name.)
  • Hành động của họ bôi nhọ lịch sử dân tộc. (Their actions sully the nation's history.)

Advanced Usage

• The verb is almost exclusively used in a figurative sense to describe damaging someone's or something's reputation, honor, or purity. It carries a strong negative connotation of deliberate defamation.

Variants and Related Words

• Bôi đen (v): Literally "to blacken"; a near-synonym meaning to defame or portray negatively.
  • Họ tìm cách bôi đen hình ảnh công ty. (They seek to blacken the company's image.)

Synonyms

• Defame: To damage the good reputation of someone.
• Tarnish: To diminish or destroy the luster or quality of, especially a reputation.
• Vilify: To speak or write about in an abusively disparaging manner.

Related Idioms

• Bôi nhọ danh dự: To smear someone's honor.
  • Anh ta đã bôi nhọ danh dự của cả gia đình. (He smeared the honor of the entire family.)

verb

1. To smear, to sully
   • bôi nhọ lịch sử
     to sully history
   • bôi nhọ thanh danh
     to smear the good repute of