assassinate vs sully

assassinate and sully both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
assassinate	No	No	Yes	No
sully	No	No	Yes	No

As verbs, sully is a hypernym of assassinate; that is, sully is a word with a broader meaning than assassinate:

assassinate: destroy or damage seriously, as of someone's reputation
sully: charge falsely or with malicious intent; attack the good name and reputation of someone

Other hypernyms of assassinate include asperse, besmirch, calumniate, defame, denigrate, slander, smear, smirch.

assassinate (verb)	sully (verb)
destroy or damage seriously, as of someone's reputation	charge falsely or with malicious intent; attack the good name and reputation of someone
murder; especially of socially prominent persons	make dirty or spotty, as by exposure to air; also used metaphorically
	place under suspicion or cast doubt upon