tainted

American  

[teyn-tid] / ˈteɪn tɪd /

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.

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verb

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

Other Word Forms

• untainted adjective

Etymology

Origin of tainted

taint ¹ ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

Example Sentences

Not only was it unfamiliar, but it felt tainted, as if we intended to pull something over on James.

From Literature

Leo came to Scotland excited to meet new friends and settle into a calm routine far from the chaos that tainted his home life before.

From BBC

Research shows that executives are tainted when their companies fail.

From The Wall Street Journal

While the store’s events are often bursting with energy, those moments are still tainted by an “underlying fear that is kind of like a dark cloud among our community,” Lima said.

From Los Angeles Times

Prosecutors in Paris will seek to establish whether the baby formula producers are liable for distributing a tainted product.

From BBC

Related Words

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