befoul

At long last, the U.S. is thinking beyond the tailpipe to examine hidden ways that cars befoul the planet.

From Slate ● Nov. 9, 2023

He has persevered through torrential downpours, droughts and, most vexingly, increasingly elaborate halftime shows that befoul his beloved turf.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 12, 2023

Cow pies befoul apple carts, a teddy bear and a man trying to save a young girl.

From Washington Times ● Feb. 23, 2022

The aftereffects of this campaign may befoul our civic life for some time to come.

From The New Yorker ● Oct. 23, 2016

But then, Samir said that the ghosts would never risk stealing our breath because Rasseem was with us, and his breath could befoul the afterlife.

From "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams" by Daniel Nayeri

And when drilling goes bad, it befouls the environment and the greater economy.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 7, 2021

For all the burlesque that befouls our politics, the quadrennial ritual on January 20 is when we are humbled by the reminder of our own solemn charge.

From National Geographic ● Jan. 20, 2021

Perhaps most distressing about SantaCon is its size and the way that it shuts down and befouls dozens of blocks.

From New York Times ● Dec. 13, 2013

Though not one of the major air pollutants itself, lead befouls most present-day antipollution devices.

From Time Magazine Archive

Here as the waters swept under the stony arches of the bridges, old women tucked up their petticoats and fished for the richness with which a city befouls its river.

From Jewel Weed by Harrison Fisher

But in 2026, nothing comparable exists for our befouled media landscape.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 2, 2026

My crime was only discovered after everybody returned from some planned activity I had skipped, fished out their baked potatoes and began choking on their befouled legumes.

From Washington Times ● Nov. 23, 2023

A bad apple might be icky and distasteful, but befouled meat caused a related, but totally distinct, sensation cluster of contamination, queasiness and defilement.

From New York Times ● Dec. 27, 2021

Much public land remains closed because of fire threats or air befouled by smoke.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2020

She screamed when she saw her dripping befouled child.

From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith

The city is also responding to months of complaints about homeless people blocking and befouling public spaces, menacing passers-by and committing random assaults.

From New York Times ● Aug. 2, 2021

Well, for Moore, it’s a blueprint: one rich guy’s knack for befouling the neighborhood foretells another’s ability to mess up the land of the free.

From The New Yorker ● Sep. 21, 2018

Assassins had visited his house on two different occasions, he said, though given his reputation for befouling the truth, that could mean that none had visited at all.

From Slate ● Aug. 9, 2016

"And then there comes a threat" — Big Coal, enabling modern contrivances while befouling nature — "to their way of life. And they will have to defend it."

From US News ● Jan. 22, 2016

Despite his lead codpiece, the dust—undoubtedly—filtered in and at him, brought him daily, so long as he failed to emigrate, its little load of befouling filth.

From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick