one's name is mud
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Someone's reputation is ruined or severely damaged.
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Uy tín của ai đó bị hủy hoại hoặc tổn thương nghiêm trọng
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: one's name is mud
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
After the scandal, his name was mud in the business community.
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “one's name is mud” mean?
Someone's reputation is ruined or severely damaged. Literally: one's name is mud
Is “one's name is mud” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.