How to Use impugn in a Sentence

impugn

verb
  • Her motives have been scrutinized and impugned.
  • He impugned his rival's character.
  • Where, on the Schorr-Bitburg scale, does this attempt to impugn Cawthorn land?
    Jack Butler, National Review, 14 Aug. 2020
  • To imply that some staffer is somehow pulling the strings of the President is to impugn the President.
    Philip Elliott, Time, 23 Jan. 2018
  • This isn’t an attempt to ban speech, or impugn anyone’s First Amendment rights.
    Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 3 Jan. 2024
  • How dare this dumb-dumb try to impugn the Bachelorette's character.
    Kristen Baldwin, EW.com, 4 July 2023
  • Campaigns that are trailing in the polls often impugn them, of course, but Biden aides cite reasons for their skepticism.
    Evan Osnos, The New Yorker, 4 Mar. 2024
  • Those numbers reflect the measures Bennett impugns as, pardon the term, overkill.
    Jonah Goldberg, National Review, 17 Apr. 2020
  • China is waging an information war to whitewash its handling of the virus and impugn the U.S.
    The Editorial Board, WSJ, 22 Mar. 2020
  • Besides, skeptics will not be able to impugn his scholarship for long.
    Lance Morrow, WSJ, 17 June 2019
  • As a growing body of consistent evidence can be hard to explain away, one fallback is to impugn the source.
    Sean B. Carroll, Scientific American, 8 Nov. 2020
  • Fields was grilled by his board last week and impugned by investors eager for a turnaround in Ford’s declining earnings and shares.
    Keith Naughton, Bloomberg.com, 17 May 2017
  • An NFL quarterback doesn't impugn his linemen for sacks.
    David Haugh, chicagotribune.com, 28 June 2017
  • Emcees had to impugn patrons' masculinity to goad them to the stage so that Daniels could flip them onto their backs and lower herself onto their noses.
    The Washington Post, NOLA.com, 21 Jan. 2018
  • But with a little muddying of the waters, McCabe's firing could be used to further impugn the integrity of the special counsel's work.
    Callum Borchers, Washington Post, 16 Mar. 2018
  • The aim was to impugn Mr. Cochran’s personal life, but the man later pleaded guilty to charges including exploitation of a vulnerable adult and served time in prison.
    Natalie Andrews, WSJ, 14 Mar. 2018
  • Sign-stealing always has been part of the game, but modern technology has taken it to a new level that threatens to impugn the integrity of baseball.
    Paul Sullivan, chicagotribune.com, 15 Nov. 2019
  • House Speaker Sara Gideon warned Hanington against impugning lawmakers and that set in motion the exchange.
    BostonGlobe.com, 20 June 2019
  • These types of claims are not reliable or fair indicators of an officer’s conduct, and would not be used to impugn any other person.
    Taylor Avery, USA TODAY, 31 July 2021
  • But, Peruto said, as attacks by Mill’s supporters have moved beyond her handling of the rapper’s case and toward efforts to impugn her integrity, the judge has felt a need to respond.
    Mark Fazlollah, Philly.com, 1 Feb. 2018
  • Maybe that’s in part because scientists have been so anxious that the world — or at least the American public — not impugn their work as speculative or dangerous.
    David Wallace-Wells, Daily Intelligencer, 11 July 2017
  • As a recent experiment demonstrated, the best AI vision system might see a picture of your face and spit out a racial slur, a gender stereotype, or a term that impugns your good character.
    Will Knight, Wired, 19 Dec. 2019
  • Any male cyclist who’s been on the receiving end of harassment knows it’s always about impugning your masculinity.
    Eben Weiss, Outside Online, 5 July 2018
  • Added to that, McCabe is a potential witness in any obstruction case against Trump, adding to suspicions the President was trying to impugn his character.
    Stephen Collinson, CNN, 17 Mar. 2018
  • This destruction of evidence, this obstruction of justice, impugned Colangelo more than anything else that came to light.
    Marcus Hayes, Philly.com, 9 June 2018
  • Sorry, but that one play impugns Cooper’s football character.
    Brad Biggs, chicagotribune.com, 25 Sep. 2017
  • But President Donald Trump and others repeatedly impugn the integrity of the mail-in voting system.
    Dave Boucher, Detroit Free Press, 3 Aug. 2020
  • By attacking Trump’s writing Amis is doing more than impugning his credentials as an author.
    Calum Marsh, The New Republic, 16 Mar. 2018
  • The House voted 35-24 along party lines, with one legislator excused, after lawmakers spent about three hours making impassioned pleas for or against the bill, with some cautioned by the speaker not to impugn the motives of their colleagues.
    oregonlive, 26 Jan. 2023
  • The DeSantis who impugns the motives of Americans who support the prosecution of foreign conflicts against America’s adversaries was nowhere to be found.
    Noah Rothman, National Review, 13 Dec. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'impugn.' 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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