Verb
To make or render black.
To make dark; to darken; to cloud.
To defame; to sully, as reputation; to make infamous; as, vice blackens the character.
To grow black or dark.
Source: Webster's dictionaryMalice delights to blacken the characters of prominent men. Napoleon Bonaparte
... the Saudis have never shown any respect for human rights, either now or in the past. Even a petty burglar faces having one of his hands chopped off. The liberal press in America prefers to ignore all this, although they don't hesitate to blacken the reputation of Iran. Muhammad Reza Pahlavi
Once we reject lyricism, to blacken a page becomes an ordeal: what's the use of writing in order to say exactly what we had to say? Emil Cioran
But I'm no hero. I had to keep my dirty little secret. The worst sin I committed was holding it in; letting the secret blacken me. Julie Anne Peters
Too many words blacken your ears. Burundi Proverb
If the fire does not burn you the smoke will blacken you. French Proverb