blacken

• POS: Verb (usu participle), Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: black=en

CIDE DICTIONARY

blacken, v. t. [See Black, a., and cf. Black, v. t. ].

•  To make or render black.  [1913 Webster]

  "While the long funerals blacken all the way."  [1913 Webster]
•  To make dark; to darken; to cloud.  South.  [1913 Webster]
•  To defame; to sully, as reputation; to make infamous; as, vice blackens the character.  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- To denigrate; defame; vilify; slander; calumniate; traduce; malign; asperse.

blacken, v. i. 

 To grow black or dark.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

blacken, v.
1 tr. & intr. make or become black or dark.
2 tr. speak evil of, defame (blacken someone's character).

THESAURUS

blacken

abuse, asperse, attaint, bark at, becloud, bedarken, bedaub, bedim, begloom, begrime, berate, besmear, besmirch, besmoke, besmutch, besoil, bespatter, bestain, betongue, black, black out, blackwash, block the light, blot, blot out, blotch, blow upon, blur, brand, brown, call names, cast a shadow, cast aspersions on, censure, charcoal, cloud, cloud over, cork, darken, darken over, daub, defame, defile, denigrate, dim, dim out, dinge, dirty, disapprove, discolor, discredit, disparage, ebonize, eclipse, encloud, encompass with shadow, engage in personalities, execrate, expose, expose to infamy, fulminate against, gibbet, gloom, hang in effigy, heap dirt upon, ink, jaw, libel, load with reproaches, malign, mark, melanize, muckrake, murk, nigrify, obfuscate, obnubilate, obscure, obumbrate, occult, occultate, overcast, overcloud, overshadow, oversmoke, pillory, rag, rail at, rate, rave against, reprimand, revile, scorch, sear, shade, shadow, singe, slander, slubber, slur, smear, smirch, smoke, smouch, smudge, smut, smutch, soil, somber, soot, spot, stain, stigmatize, sully, taint, tarnish, throw mud at, thunder against, tongue-lash, traduce, vilify, vituperate, yell at, yelp at

ROGET THESAURUS

blacken

Detraction

VB detract, derogate, decry, deprecate, depreciate, disparage, run down, cry down, backcap, belittle, sneer at, criticize, pull to pieces, pick a hole in one's coat, asperse, cast aspersions, blow upon, bespatter, blacken, vilify, vilipend, avile, give a dog a bad name, brand, malign, muckrake, backbite, libel, lampoon, traduce, slander, defame, calumniate, bear false witness against, speak ill of behind one's back, fling dirt, anathematize, dip the pen in gall, view in a bad light, impugn (disparage the motives of), assail, attack, oppose, denounce, accuse.

Blackness

VB be black, render black, blacken, infuscate, denigrate, blot, blotch, smutch, smirch, darken, black, sable, swarthy, somber, dark, inky, ebony, ebon, atramentous, jetty, coal-black, jet-black, fuliginous, pitchy, sooty, swart, dusky, dingy, murky, Ethiopic, low-toned, low in tone, of the deepest dye, black as jet, black as my hat, black as a shoe, black as a tinker's pot, black as November, black as thunder, black as midnight, nocturnal, nigrescent, gray, obscure.