it tarnished his reputation...

sully, blacken, stain, blemish, blot, taint, soil, ruin, disgrace, mar, damage, harm, hurt, undermine, dishonor, stigmatize, besmirch

ANTONYM: enhance

2. discolor, rust, oxidize, corrode, stain, dull, blacken

ANTONYMS: polish, brighten

verb

penniless, poor, impoverished, poverty-stricken, impecunious, without a cent/penny (to one's name); needy, in straitened circumstances, distressed, badly off; informal hard up, broke, flat broke, strapped (for cash), without a red cent, dirt poor.

antonym: rich.

freudlos, träurig, trüb

mirth:

 merriment, high spirits, cheerfulness, cheeriness, hilarity, glee, laughter, gaiety, buoyancy, blitheness, euphoria, exhilaration, lightheartedness, joviality, joy, joyfulness, joyousness.

antonym misery.

Mangel, Hungersnot, Teuerung

lack, scarcity, shortage, shortfall, want, deficiency, insufficiency, inadequacy, paucity, sparseness, scantiness, rareness; absence.

antonym: surfeit. 

snide remark, cutting remark, taunt, sneer, jeer, insult, barb

verb: 

jeer, taunt, mock, scoff, sneer

entzückt sein, verliebt machen

 in love with, infatuated with, besotted with, smitten with, captivated by, enchanted by, fascinated by, bewitched by, beguiled by; keen on, taken with; informal mad about, crazy about, wild about, bowled over by, stuck on, hot for, sweet on, carrying a torch for, moonstruck by; literary: ensorcelled by

Ermahnung, Verwarnung

verb
1 he was severely admonished by his father reprimand, rebuke, scold, reprove, reproach, upbraid, chastise, chide, berate, criticize, take to task, read the riot act to, rake/haul over the coals; dress down, bawl out, rap over the knuckles, give someone hell; chew out; formal castigate; rare reprehend.
2 she admonished him to drink less advise, recommend, counsel, urge, exhort, bid, enjoin; caution, warn; formal: adjure.

startle;

startled

erschrecken, aufschrecken

verb
naturally their screaming startled me: surprise, frighten, scare, alarm, give someone a shock/fright/jolt, make someone jump; perturb, unsettle, agitate, disturb, disconcert, disquiet; informal: give someone a turn, make someone jump out of their skin, freak someone out. antonym: put at ease.

ärgern, trüben

verb
make (a liquid) turbid or muddy by disturbing the sediment : winds roil these waters;
(of a liquid) move in a turbulent, swirling manner : the sea roiled below her | figurative a kind of fear roiled in her.

elend, unheilvoll, verderblich

adjective
she saw her rival's reddened, baleful face menacing, threatening, unfriendly, hostile, antagonistic, evil, evil-intentioned, vindictive, wicked, nasty, bitter, acrimonious, malevolent, malicious, malignant, malign, sinister; harmful, injurious, dangerous, destructive, noxious, pernicious, detrimental, deleterious, inimical, injurious, corrupting, deadly, venomous, poisonous, vitriolic; literary: malefic, maleficent. antonym: benevolent, friendly, beneficial, favorable

Befreiung

noun
the action of getting rid of a troublesome or unwanted person or thing.
PHRASES
good riddance said to express relief at being free of a troublesome or unwanted person or thing.

geringschätzig, schnöde, verächtlich

adjective

fröhlich, schadenfroh

adjective
the gleeful bunch over there must have been rooting for the Patriots: delighted, pleased, joyful, happy, glad, overjoyed, elated, euphoric; amused, mirthful, merry, exuberant; jubilant; informal: over the moon.

deprecate AND depreciate

self-deprecating (AE, BE: self-depreciating)

the school deprecates this behavior: deplore, abhor, disapprove of, frown on, take a dim view of, take exception to, detest, despise; criticize, censure. antonym: praise, overrate.

depeciate:

verb
1 these cars will depreciate quickly: decrease in value, lose value, fall in price.
2 the decision to depreciate property: devalue, cheapen, reduce, lower in price, mark down, discount.
3 they depreciate the importance of art: belittle, disparage, denigrate, decry, deprecate, underrate, undervalue, underestimate, diminish, trivialize; disdain, sneer at, scoff at, scorn; informal knock, badmouth, sell short, pooh-pooh.

antonym: overrate.

Auseinandersetzung, 

verb
1 cheap fabric soon frays: unravel, wear, wear thin, wear out/through, become worn.
2 her nerves were frayed: strain, tax, overtax, put on edge.

noun

two men started the fray: battle, fight, engagement, conflict, clash, skirmish, altercation, tussle, struggle, scuffle, melee, brawl, fracas; informal: scrap, set-to.

the scheme is bound to incense union members anger, infuriate, enrage, madden, inflame; antagonize, provoke, exasperate; informal drive mad/crazy, drive up the wall, make someone see red, make someone's blood boil, make someone's hackles rise, get someone's back up, get someone's dander up; informal: tick off, piss off, burn up. antonym: placate.

ausschimpfen, beschimpfen, schelten, rügen, tadeln

verb
she berates him so often, he barely hears the words anymore: scold, rebuke, reprimand, reproach, reprove, admonish, chide, criticize, reprehend, upbraid, take to task, read someone the riot act, haul over the coals; castigate; informal: tell off, give someone a talking-to, give someone what for, dress down, give someone a dressing-down, give someone a tongue-lashing, rap over the knuckles, bawl out, come down on, tear into, blast; ream out, chew out, zing, take to the woodshed; dated call down, rate. antonym: praise.

unerschütterlich

a crack team of unflappable medics: imperturbable, unexcitable, cool, calm, 'calm, cool, and collected', self-controlled, coolheaded, levelheaded; informal: laid-back, Type-B. antonym: excitable.

Plausibilität, Wahrscheinlichkeit

noun
the verisimilitude of her performance is gripping: realism, believability, plausibility, authenticity, credibility, lifelikeness.

schrittweise, stufenweise, zunehmend

adjective
the incremental increases in wages have been slow this year: gradual, progressive, steady, step-by-step; increasing, growing.

Wunderkind

noun
1 a seven-year-old prodigy: genius, mastermind, virtuoso, wunderkind, wonder child, boy wonder, girl wonder; informal whiz kid, whiz, wizard.
2 Germany seemed a prodigy of industrial discipline: model, classic example, paragon, paradigm, epitome, exemplar, archetype.

see also: prodigal; prodigious

(weiß)glühend

adjective
1 incandescent fragments of lava: white-hot, red-hot, burning, fiery, blazing, ablaze, aflame; glowing, aglow, radiant, bright, brilliant, luminous, sparkling; literary: fervid, lucent; rare: igneous.
2 an incandescent speech: passionate, ardent, fervent, fervid, intense, impassioned, spirited, fiery.

Altklugheit; Frühreife

see: precocious/precociousness

beschwatzen, schmeicheln, gut zu reden, überreden

verb
I hate it when he cajoles me to go out with his friends persuade, wheedle, coax, talk into, prevail on, sweet-talk, butter up, soft-soap, seduce, inveigle, entice, tempt, lure, seduce, beguile.

anmaßend, aufdringlich, überheblich, vermessen

see note at BOLD:

adjective
1 bold adventurers: daring, intrepid, brave, courageous, valiant, valorous, fearless, dauntless, audacious, daredevil; adventurous, heroic, plucky, spirited, confident, assured; informal gutsy, spunky, feisty; literary temerarious. antonym timid, unadventurous.
2 don't be so bold in public: impudent, insolent, impertinent, brazen, brash, disrespectful, presumptuous, forward; cheeky, fresh.
3 a bold pattern: striking, vivid, bright, strong, eye-catching, prominent; gaudy, lurid, garish. antonym: pale.
4 departure times are in bold type: heavy, thick, pronounced, conspicuous. antonym light, roman.

Einspruch, Vorbehalt, Widerspruch

noun
he added the caveat that the results still had to be corroborated: warning, caution, admonition; proviso, condition, stipulation, provision, clause, rider, qualification.

überprüfen

verb
press releases are vetted by an executive council: check, examine, scrutinize, investigate, inspect, look over, screen, assess, evaluate, appraise; informal: check out.

dissembler;

dissemble

Heuchler, Simulant

noun
he was a born showman and dissembler: liar, dissimulator; impostor, humbug, bluffer, fraud, actor, hoaxer, charlatan, quack, swindler, charlatan, mountebank, trickster, fraud, fraudster, impostor; informal: con man, snake oil salesman, shark, grifter.

verb
she's being honest and has no need to dissemble: dissimulate, pretend, feign, act, masquerade, sham, fake, bluff, posture, hide one's feelings, put on a false front.

Ausrutscher, Faux-Pas

noun
I made some real gaffes at work: blunder, mistake, error, slip, faux pas, indiscretion, impropriety, miscalculation, gaucherie, solecism; informal slip-up, howler, boo-boo, fluff, flub, blooper, goof.

(Appetit)Häppchen

noun
we sampled morsels of their splendid desserts: mouthful, bite, nibble, bit, soupçon, taste, spoonful, forkful, sliver, drop, dollop, spot, gobbet, tidbit.

bestürzt, verzweifelt, zerstreut, zutiefst unglücklich

adjective
I first became suspicious when I realized that Frank was not at all distraught over Larry's disappearance: worried, upset, distressed, fraught; overcome, overwrought, beside oneself, out of one's mind, desperate, hysterical, worked up, at one's wits' end; informal: in a state, unglued.

see overwrought:
adjective
1 she was too overwrought to listen: tense, agitated, nervous, on edge, edgy, keyed up, worked up, high-strung, neurotic, overexcited, beside oneself, distracted, distraught, frantic, hysterical; informal in a state, in a tizzy, uptight, wound up, het up, strung out. antonym calm.
2 the painting is overwrought: overelaborate, overornate, overblown, overdone, contrived, overworked, strained. antonym: understated.

Niederträchtigkeit, Tücke, Untreue

noun literary
the perfidy of her husband: treachery, duplicity, deceit, deceitfulness, disloyalty, infidelity, faithlessness, unfaithfulness, betrayal, treason, double-dealing, untrustworthiness, breach of trust; literary: perfidiousness.

see perfidious

Neuling, Anfänger, Novize

noun
1 a neophyte of the monastery: novice, novitiate; postulant, catechumen.
2 cooking classes are offered to neophytes: beginner, learner, novice, newcomer; initiate, tyro, fledgling; trainee, apprentice, probationer, tenderfoot; informal: rookie, newbie, greenhorn.

Hinterwäldler, Landei

noun informal
a hick from the sticks: bumpkin, country bumpkin, yokel, rustic, country dweller, peasant, provincial, country cousin; informal hillbilly, hayseed, rube.

adjective
1 a hick town: rural, rustic, backwater, backwoods, outlying; jerkwater.
2 hick attitudes: small-town, unsophisticated, rural, narrow-minded, small-minded, parochial; informal bush-league.

Verschleppungstaktik, Obstruktion

noun
many hours in committee are characterized by filibuster: stonewalling, delaying tactics, procrastination, obstruction, temporizing.

verb
the opposition are filibustering: waste time, stall, play for time, stonewall, sandbag, procrastinate, buy time, employ delaying tactics.

angenehm, appetitlich, mundgerecht, schmackhaft

adjective
1 palatable meals: edible, eatable, digestible, tasty, appetizing, flavorful; formal comestible. antonym tasteless, insipid.
2 the truth is not always palatable: pleasant, acceptable, pleasing, agreeable, to one's liking. antonym: disagreeable, unpleasant.

begreiflich, besorgt, verzagt

adjective
dentists know that many of their patients are apprehensive: anxious, worried, uneasy, nervous, concerned, agitated, tense, afraid, scared, frightened, fearful; informal: on tenterhooks. antonym: confident.

see also: apprehension