tainted

[ teyn-tid ]

adjective

1. infected, contaminated, corrupted, or spoiled:

   An outbreak of salmonella poisoning linked to eating tainted ground turkey has resulted in several deaths.

2. affected by a trace of something bad, offensive, or harmful:

   We strongly urge you to distance your charitable organization from this discredited project and its tainted money.

3. (of the name, reputation, etc., of a person or group) sullied or tarnished:

   Having such a program available to these students could help fix the tainted reputation many feel our school has earned.

verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of taint ¹.

Other Words From

• un·taint·ed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of tainted¹

taint ¹( def ) + -ed ²( def )

Example Sentences

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

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

For nearly a decade, we have been witnessing all of his bad traits worsening and degrading into a tainted, bitter sludge.

From Salon

So I wasn’t confident, which probably tainted her response — she didn’t like either one.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• contaminated
• corrupted
• dirty
• infected
• polluted
• rotten