taint

¹ American  

[teynt] / teɪnt /

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.

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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 American  

Or t'aint

noun

Slang: Vulgar.

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

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taint British  

/ teɪnt /

verb

1. to affect or be affected by pollution or contamination

   oil has tainted the water

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

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noun

1. a defect or flaw

   a taint on someone's reputation

2. a trace of contamination or infection

Other Word Forms

• taintless adjective
• untainting adjective

Etymology

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

Example Sentences

Trying to deal with Iraq would also consume the last years of George W Bush's presidency and taint his legacy, reshaping American politics.

From BBC • Mar. 12, 2026

“It’s a crisis for a unit when its head is suspected of such serious violations of the law,” he said, adding that the episode shouldn’t “contaminate and taint the entire unit.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 31, 2025

He also voiced concern that the draft lottery debate could "negatively taint the whole effort".

From Barron's • Oct. 18, 2025

So as not to taint the results, I can’t talk too much about what we are testing here, but the purpose is to address some lingering questions about the dress effect and related stimuli.

From Slate • Feb. 26, 2025

The antiempirical taint of the Pythagoreans survives to this day.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

Related Words

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