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attaint

[uh-teynt]
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verb (used with object)
  1. Law. to condemn by a sentence or a bill or act of attainder.
  2. to disgrace.
  3. Archaic. to accuse.
  4. Obsolete. to prove the guilt of.
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noun
  1. Obsolete. a stain; disgrace; taint.
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Origin of attaint

1250–1300; Middle English ataynte, derivative of ataynt convicted < Anglo-French, Old French, past participle of ataindre to convict, attain
Related formsun·at·taint·ed, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for attainted

Historical Examples

  • The prisons were choked with attainted and suspected rebels.

    Mistress Wilding

    Rafael Sabatini

  • Under Edward IV his lands are naturally granted to other people and he is attainted.

    Henry the Sixth

    John Blacman

  • The fifth class of 85 persons are, as we said, not attainted at all.

  • They proposed that the queen should be attainted by a separate bill.

  • In 1716, after his son had been attainted, he was made Viscount St. John.

    The Journal to Stella

    Jonathan Swift

British Dictionary definitions for attainted

attaint

verb (tr) archaic
  1. to pass judgment of death or outlawry upon (a person); condemn by bill of attainder
  2. to dishonour or disgrace
  3. to accuse or prove to be guilty
  4. (of sickness) to affect or strike (somebody)
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noun
  1. a less common word for attainder
  2. a dishonour; taint
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Word Origin

C14: from Old French ateint convicted, from 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