How to Use befoul in a Sentence

befoul

verb
  • They should not be thrown, jumped off, eaten, screamed at, or otherwise befouled.
    — Eddie Small, New Yorker, 6 Jan. 2026
  • But the country’s blond-sand beaches are now scarred with plastic bottles and its mountain streams befouled by open dumps.
    — New York Times, 3 Dec. 2019
  • Microfibers from synthetic fabrics and other pollutants befoul our rivers and oceans.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 28 Nov. 2019
  • The ground is befouled with glass and debris from the disaster, requiring several inches of dirt to be scraped and removed.
    — star-telegram, 28 Dec. 2013
  • Ambrosino decries the garbage and neglect that have befouled places that could be developed into parks and other public resources.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 3 Oct. 2019
  • The water is almost entirely undrinkable, and raw sewage is befouling beaches and fishing grounds.
    — David M. Halbfinger, New York Times, 11 Feb. 2018
  • Taking a judicial appointee's comments out of context and using tribal political outrage to befoul them is not unique among Democrats.
    — John Kass, Alaska Dispatch News, 13 Sep. 2017
  • The repairs are vital to prevent the runoff of polluted water from the lake into nearby waterways that lead to green algae growth that befouls waterways and threatens marine life.
    — Gray Rohrer, OrlandoSentinel.com, 9 June 2017
  • The repairs to the dike are vital to prevent the runoff of polluted water from the lake into nearby waterways that lead to green algae growth that befouls waterways and threatens marine life.
    — Gray Rohrer, Sun-Sentinel.com, 9 June 2017
  • That will prevent polluted excess water being sent on estuaries east and west of the lake that have befouled waters with blue-green algae that has led to massive deaths of marine life within the past decade.
    — Jim Turner, Miami Herald, 15 May 2026
  • School staff and the resource officer were notified that someone was regularly befouling the track and football field, and authorities began surveilling the area.
    — Cleve R. Wootson Jr., Washington Post, 7 June 2018
  • Los Angeles, that magical realm of shimmering natural beauty, was befouled by smog — maybe forever.
    — Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times, 26 Mar. 2026
  • That’s a fate that befouls most of the heroic cast, who are underserved by a tepid script that can’t bother to locate and carry through coherent character arcs that would give this adventure real emotional weight.
    — Wilson Chapman, IndieWire, 31 Mar. 2026
  • Police set the trap that resulted in Tramaglini’s arrest after high school staffers and coaches complained to their on-site resource officer that somebody was befouling their track and field.
    — NBC News, 3 May 2018
  • For the sailors, teams, organizers and sponsors, the Volvo Ocean Race is part of a larger race against time, a mission to curb the use of products that litter the ocean and befoul the air.
    — Washington Post, 18 May 2018
  • Whether that changes between now and whenever Democrats bring articles of impeachment to the House floor will depend on their ability to make the case that the president has not only befouled his office but must be removed from it.
    — Jonathan Allen, NBC News, 31 Oct. 2019
  • Sociologists and psychologists could probably help explain the phenomenon, how creating a sense of belonging prevents people from befouling the waters with free-floating cruelty and abuse.
    — John Warner, chicagotribune.com, 7 Mar. 2018
  • Fennell also cut the novel’s frame story, in which the events of the story are told by the housekeeper Nelly (played in the movie by Hong Chau) to an outside observer years after all the sorrowful drama that befouled Heathcliff and Cathy.
    — Wilson Chapman, IndieWire, 13 Feb. 2026
  • That's because Walden Pond, the once-pristine jewel that inspired the American naturalist and philosopher in the mid 1800s, has been befouled by generations of swimmers urinating in the water, according to a new study.
    — Corky Siemaszko, NBC News, 6 Apr. 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'befoul.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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