Results

Definition of blacken : 1. To defame; to sully, as reputation; to make infamous; as, vice blackens the character.
2. To grow black or dark.
3. To make dark; to darken; to cloud.
4. To make or render black.

Synonyms:

char, taint, coal, singe, smut, dirty, befoul, melanize, smutch, scorch, soil, black, attack, melanise, parch, besoil, deepen, defile, smudge, bespatter, clean, nigrify, spatter, sear, begrime, stain

eclipse, darken, shadow, obscure

detract, badmouth, dishonor, smear, slander, shame, calumniate, scandalize, stigmatize, besmirch, besmear, discredit, tarnish, denounce, traduce, malign, sully, vilify, defame, denigrate, libel, pillory

dim, cloud, shade

Usage examples:

• One knows what these cheap photographs are, how they distort and blacken. - "A Diary Without Dates", Enid Bagnold.
• They will blacken one another's reputation with an ease and zest that is simply appalling, and laugh in your face while doing it. - "In Her Own Right", John Reed Scott.
• The same disregard of the laws of civilized warfare and of the just demands of humanity which has heretofore called forth expressions of condemnation from the nations of Christendom has continued to blacken the sad scene. - "Complete State of the Union Addresses from 1790 to the Present", Various.