attaint
Americanverb (used with object)
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Law. to condemn by a sentence or a bill or act of attainder.
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to disgrace.
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Archaic. to accuse.
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Obsolete. to prove the guilt of.
noun
verb
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to pass judgment of death or outlawry upon (a person); condemn by bill of attainder
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to dishonour or disgrace
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to accuse or prove to be guilty
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(of sickness) to affect or strike (somebody)
noun
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a less common word for attainder
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a dishonour; taint
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of attaint
1250–1300; Middle English ataynte, derivative of ataynt convicted < Anglo-French, Old French, past participle of ataindre to convict, attain
Vocabulary lists containing attaint
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He stood attainted by solemn Act of Parliament; and though the judges ruled that the possession of the crown cleared all attaint the stigma and peril remained.
From History of the English People, Volume III The Parliament, 1399-1461; The Monarchy 1461-1540 by Green, John Richard
Ah lost am I, if thou, O Saint, Canst thus in thought my heart attaint: No warning charge from thee I need; Ne'er could such crime from me proceed.
From The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Griffith, Ralph T. H. (Ralph Thomas Hotchkin)
Do they mean to attaint and disable backwards all the kings that have reigned before the Revolution, and consequently to stain the throne of England with the blot of a continual usurpation?
From The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 03 (of 12) by Burke, Edmund
The Versaillese want more than the body; they must attaint the rebellious mind, surround it with an atmosphere of stench and vice, in order to make it fail and founder.
From History of the Commune of 1871 by Lissagary, P.
Others of his following failed not in the "attaint," and horses and troopers floundered in the sand.
From Under the Rose by Isham, Frederic Stewart
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
