smirch vs assassinate

smirch is a noun but assassinate is not a noun.

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

As verbs, assassinate is a hyponym of smirch; that is, assassinate is a word with a more specific, narrower meaning than smirch:

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

Other hyponyms of smirch include libel, badmouth, drag through the mud, malign, traduce.

smirch (noun)	assassinate (noun)
an act that brings discredit to the person who does it
a blemish made by dirt

smirch (verb)	assassinate (verb)
charge falsely or with malicious intent; attack the good name and reputation of someone	destroy or damage seriously, as of someone's reputation
smear so as to make dirty or stained	murder; especially of socially prominent persons