smear

«smear» in Mova's school dictionary: To spread something soft, sticky or oily over a surface… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (smear, smears, smeared, smearing); noun (a smear, smears)

meaning for a pupil

1) To spread something soft, sticky or oily over a surface, often messily. tree →

2) (noun) A dirty mark made by something rubbed on a surface. tree →

3) To make a mark blurry by rubbing, like smudging ink. tree →

4) To spread false or unfair stories to damage someone's good name: «a smear campaign». tree →

5) (medicine) A small sample of cells taken on a slide for testing; in the UK a «smear test» is a health check for grown-up women. tree →

sense in the lessons

In everyday life you smear butter on toast or jam on your face; in art you smear paint with a finger. In science, a smear of cells on a slide is looked at under a microscope. In news and media lessons, a «smear» is a false attack on someone, linked to fake news and propaganda.

examples

• She smeared butter on her toast. tree →
• There was a smear of chocolate on his cheek. tree →
• Don't touch the wet paint, or you'll smear it. tree →
• The window was covered in greasy smears. tree →
• The politician said the story was a smear. tree →
• Mum went to the doctor for a routine smear test. tree →
• We put a smear of pond water on a slide and looked at it under the microscope. tree →
• The Flies were quickly smeared from head to foot with honey. tree →

note

Regular verb; noun countable. «Smear» and «smudge» are similar; smudging is usually ink or pencil. A «smear campaign» is not a cleaning plan; it is spreading lies about someone.

In the corpora

• Some farmers smear fences with chilli and grease or burn chilli bricks, because chilli stings elephants' sensitive trunks.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «smear» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.