as in smears
to rub an oily or sticky substance over
besmeared the napkin with jelly
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for besmears
Verb
-
This chilling, starkly beautiful ambient piece draws Nebraska’s marginal whispers to the forefront and smears them across the picture plane.—
Sasha Geffen,
Pitchfork,
10 Mar. 2026 -
The five pieces offer, in turn, biomorphic hints of de Kooning, the ragged shapes of Clyfford Still, the bold geometries of Ellsworth Kelly, the paint smears of Gerhard Richter, and something that looks like toothpaste squeezed onto an orange peel.—
Zachary Fine,
New Yorker,
22 Dec. 2025
Verb
-
Design grows dense forests of carbon nanotubes The design grows dense forests of carbon nanotubes directly onto copper foil and coats them with a thin layer of silicon, creating a flexible, conductive scaffold that can absorb expansion while maintaining performance.—
Prabhat Ranjan Mishra,
Interesting Engineering,
28 Mar. 2026
-
Add the mixture to the remaining milk in the pan and cook until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon.—
Mary Ann Esposito,
Boston Herald,
18 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
And this paints a very clear picture of what the future will look like for both Beatrice and Eugenie.—
Lizzie Lanuza,
StyleCaster,
3 Apr. 2026
-
The indictment paints this picture of you as the kingpin of this operation who helped structure how victims were targeted and how money was made.—
Dave Quinn,
PEOPLE,
3 Apr. 2026
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.
Cite this Entry
“Besmears.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/besmears. Accessed 5 Apr. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
