Meaning of Smear | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A mark made by smearing.
   countable, uncountable
2. A false or unsupported, malicious statement intended to injure a person's reputation.
   countable, uncountable
3. A preparation to be examined under a microscope, made by spreading a thin layer of a substance (such as blood, bacterial culture) on a slide.
   countable, uncountable
4. A Pap smear (screening test for cervical cancer).
   countable, uncountable
5. Any of various forms of distortion that make a signal harder to see or hear.
   uncountable
6. A maneuver in which the shoe is placed onto the holdless rock, and the friction from the shoe keeps it in contact
   countable, uncountable
7. A rough glissando in jazz music.
   countable, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“This detergent cleans windows without leaving smears.”

“A smear of decisive lead-coloured paint had been laid on to obliterate Henchard’s name, though its letters dimly loomed through like ships in a fog.”

“Vast avalanches had left their dirty smears on the opposing slopes,”

“she bought a couple of rolls filled with a thin smear of potted meat for her breakfast”

“I could see the roofs of the town on the horizon, and farther off and higher up, a tiny silver ship propped motionless on a smear of pale sea.”

“smear campaign”

“I should have held him quite beneath my Notice, as is all he utters, but that the Appetite of Slander, in many, is too predominant; and, ’tis possible, when the filthiest Fellow throws a Profusion of Dirt, some may chance to stick, if not timely thrown off; I shall endeavour therefore, to wipe away the sooty Smears of this Chimney-sweeper, by relating a simple Fact, which will, I flatter myself, amply confute the malicious Tales of this unprovoked, rancorous Mortal:”

““I’d rather not [read the newspaper article]. It’s probably full of falsification and smear. The yellow journalists doubtlessly suggested all sorts of lip-smacking innuendoes.””

“I'm going to the doctor's this afternoon for a smear.”

“In television terms, a certain amount of smear, ringing, and anticipatory overshoot are indigenous to VSB transmission.”

“Results show the reduction in intelligibility produced by changing the filter condition was much greater than reductions caused by altering smear duration.”

CEFR level