The word 'blacken' is correct and commonly used in written English.
It means to make or become black or dark in color, to make something appear evil or negative, or to damage someone's reputation. Example 1: The chef instructed us to blacken the chicken on the grill for a crispy, smoky flavor. Example 2: The politician's unethical actions have blackened his reputation and trustworthiness among voters. Example 3: The storm clouds began to blacken the sky, signaling an approaching thunderstorm.
Was he paid to blacken Mr Palocci's name?
The media were readier to praise Mr Yeltsin (forgetting the war in Chechnya) and blacken his Communist opponent, Gennady Zyuganov.
But with the New Hampshire primary less than a week away, and South Carolina's just 11 days after that, he has no time to mount a similar effort in those states.Moreover, since Mr Santorum's rise was so sudden and unexpected, his rivals did not really get the chance to blacken his name with Iowans before the vote.
American officials say the UNDP has engaged in a cover-up; UNDP officials retort that the Americans won't tell them what sort of thing they are allegedly hiding.If their aim was to blacken the UNDP, then leaks to American newspapers and to Republicans in Congress have had the desired effect.
Similarly, NHS patients have mostly been charged for prescriptions.Increasing such charges would not blacken the NHS's soul assuming Mr Burnham means by that its public-spirited ethos.
IN 1643 Fang Yizhi, a Chinese scholar, wrote that smoking tobacco for too long would "blacken the lungs" and lead to death.
The BBC now says it has a tape of the conversation with him that was the basis of the broadcast.Even so, for Downing Street's PR machine to blacken a dead man's name, when its addiction to spin is so widely criticised, was particularly crass.
IF AN American talk-radio host wanted to cook up some tale that would blacken the name of the United Nations for ever, he could hardly have come up with anything spicier.
The authorities seem unsure how best to blacken his name.
HOW can a political journalist tell when immersion in one of the most cynical pursuits known to man has begun to blacken his soul as well?
The Montenegrins suggest that Serbia is now using the Saric affair to blacken Montenegro's name in Brussels.In this section The sad end of the party Greased up Crooked in Calabria A coalition kaleidoscope Many wives' tales A Balkan imbroglio Zagreb wars The euro's existential worries ReprintsMr Saric has vanished.
