1
as in staining
to make dirty
unsightly mud and slush befouls the family car every winter
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in polluting
to make unfit for use by the addition of something harmful or undesirable
the enemy had befouled the water in all of the area's wells with animal carcasses
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for befouling
Verb
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Boards with deep knife grooves, cracks, or staining should be replaced because damaged areas can continue to trap bacteria even after cleaning.—
Caroline Lubinsky,
Martha Stewart,
17 May 2026 -
Worse yet, the black olive tree caterpillar also feeds on these galls caused by the mites, accelerating staining through its droppings.—
Cori Sears,
The Spruce,
14 May 2026
Verb
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Engineers and safety experts are solving problems in a new technology that gets us off expensive and polluting fossil fuels.—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
9 May 2026
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Sunil Bector, an attorney with the Sierra Club, said that heavily polluting facilities will reap overlapping benefits from the assault on the Clean Air Act.—
Mark Olalde,
ProPublica,
8 May 2026
Verb
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And Hanceville’s fate is as murky as the fog that pours in at night, blotting out buildings and blackening the road ahead.—
Rob Picheta,
CNN Money,
7 Feb. 2026
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These tungsten atoms would then condense on the slightly cooler inside of the glass bulb, blackening it and dimming the light over time.—
Natalia Sánchez Loayza,
Scientific American,
5 Feb. 2026
Verb
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The chemotherapy doctors are poisoning you.—
Eileen Finan,
PEOPLE,
19 May 2026
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Boys State team Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss are behind Teenage Wasteland, which revisits the story of a group of teenagers in upstate New York, who in the early 1990s make a film that uncovers a conspiracy that is poisoning their community.—
Mia Galuppo,
HollywoodReporter,
14 May 2026
Verb
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With the help of your Instant Pot, spaghetti and meatballs come together in under an hour without dirtying multiple dishes.—
Jenna Sims,
Southern Living,
24 Feb. 2026
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Keep them in reserve as a sleep sock to ward off icy toes and prevent sweat and skin oils from dirtying your down sleeping bag.—
Adam Roy,
Outside,
28 Dec. 2025
Verb
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And could a second season, sans the extraordinary talents of Steven Yeun and Ali Wong, deliver a story and themes in keeping with that brand, without sullying what was so deviously tricky about the original series and its tone?—
Daniel Fienberg,
HollywoodReporter,
16 Apr. 2026
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Social media was full of people accusing Canada of sullying the great sport and sportsmanship of curling.—
Dana O’Neil,
CNN Money,
14 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Also on the good side of things is Sean Bell’s lanky Sir Robin, the not-quite-so-brave, armor-soiling knight.—
Christopher Smith,
Oc Register,
18 Feb. 2026
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On TikTok, as The Washington Post has reported, some creators are making $5,000 a month using AI tools to write scripts and animate extremely dumb viral videos where old men talk about soiling themselves.—
Charlie Warzel,
The Atlantic,
20 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Kelly believes a book like this hasn’t been written before because people weren’t ready to hear the truth – as though acknowledging these famous people’s complete life experiences would be besmirching their legacies.—
Tiney Ricciardi,
Denver Post,
12 Jan. 2026
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Famously, the British press conspired to draw the dramatist’s name through the mud, besmirching his literary legacy for generations to follow.—
Brittany Allen,
Literary Hub,
20 Oct. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Befouling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/befouling. Accessed 22 May. 2026.
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