taint

¹

[ teynt ]

noun

1. a trace of something bad, offensive, or harmful.

   Synonyms: stain, blemish, spot, fault, flaw, defect

2. a trace of infection, contamination, or the like.
3. a trace of dishonor or discredit.
4. Obsolete. color; tint.

verb (used with object)

1. to modify by or as if by a trace of something offensive or deleterious.
2. to infect, contaminate, corrupt, or spoil.

   Synonyms: poison, pollute, defile

3. to sully or tarnish (a person's name, reputation, etc.).

   Synonyms: stain, dishonor

4. Obsolete. to color or tint.

verb (used without object)

1. to become tainted; spoil.

taint

²

or t'aint

noun

, Slang: Vulgar.

1. the area between the testicles or vulva and the anus; the perineum.

taint

/ teɪnt /

verb

1. to affect or be affected by pollution or contamination

   oil has tainted the water

2. to tarnish (someone's reputation, etc)

noun

1. a defect or flaw

   a taint on someone's reputation

2. a trace of contamination or infection

Derived Forms

• ˈtaintless, adjective

Other Words From

• un·taint·ing adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of taint¹

First recorded in 1325–75; conflation of Middle English taynt, shortened variant of attaint “struck, attainted,” past participle of attainten “to convict” ( attaint ), late Middle English taynt “hue, tint” ( tint ), from Anglo-French teint or directly from Latin tinctus, equivalent to ting(ere) “to dye, color“ ( tinge ) + -tus suffix of verb action); and teinte, from Late Latin tincta “inked stroke,” noun use of feminine of past participle of tingere

Origin of taint²

First recorded in 1955–60; casual pronunciation of it ain’t (the one or the other), i.e., it is the area in between

Word History and Origins

Origin of taint¹

C14: (influenced by attaint infected, from attain ) from Old French teindre to dye, from Latin tingere to dye

Example Sentences

“The feds usually use a ‘taint’ or ‘dirty’ team of agents that aren’t working on the case to conduct these searches.

From Los Angeles Times

Survivors of Pickthall's abuse read out their impact statements, in which many said their childhood had been tainted by his actions.

From BBC

Mauritius is known as one of Africa's most stable democracies but this election was tainted by a phone-tapping scandal with leaked recordings of public figures posted online.

From BBC

But it doesn’t taint the song at all for me.

From Los Angeles Times

There's this tenor of conversation that's leaked into the interview that has tainted the quality of coverage, or the ability to cover him.

From Salon

Related Words

• besmirch
• blight
• cloud
• corrupt
• damage
• discredit
• harm
• hurt
• infect
• muddy
• poison
• pollute
• smear
• spoil
• stain
• sully
• tar
• tarnish