blot

Failure would be an indelible blot on his record and vastly complicate life for his successors.

He's previously said that his earliest memory was "a massive ship at the end of my street, towering over the houses and blotting out the sun".

That brings us to that one blot on Wodehouse’s life.

And McIlroy followed that with another double bogey on the par-four 17th, blotting what had previously been a consistent card where he had played with patience and maturity.

They’ve blotted their own copybooks by choosing to seek short-term relief at the expense of their long-term mission.