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attainder

[uh-teyn-der]
noun
  1. the legal consequence of judgment of death or outlawry for treason or felony, involving the loss of all civil rights.
  2. Obsolete. dishonor.
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Origin of attainder

1425–75; late Middle English, noun use of Anglo-French attaindre to convict, Old French ataindre to convict, attain
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for attainder

Historical Examples

  • This Bill of his Attainder shall not have One true man's hand to it.

    Browning's England

    Helen Archibald Clarke

  • The first measure brought forward was the repeal of Pole's attainder.

    The Reign of Mary Tudor

    W. Llewelyn Williams.

  • A period from about the death of Anne Boleyn to his attainder.

  • Is attainder and corruption of blood ever a proper punishment?

  • This bill of attainder was passed by a large majority—yeas 204, nays 59.

    Charles I

    Jacob Abbott

British Dictionary definitions for attainder

attainder

noun
  1. (formerly) the extinction of a person's civil rights resulting from a sentence of death or outlawry on conviction for treason or felonySee also bill of attainder
  2. obsolete dishonour
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Archaic equivalent: attainture (əˈteɪntʃə)

Word Origin

C15: from Anglo-French attaindre to convict, from Old French ateindre to attain
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for attainder

n.

"extinction of rights of a person sentenced to death or outlaw," mid-15c., from noun use of Old French ataindre "to touch upon, strike, hit, seize, accuse, condemn" (see attain). For use of French infinitives as nouns, especially in legal language, cf. waiver.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper