attaint

American  

[uh-teynt] / əˈteɪnt /

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.

attaint British  

/ əˈteɪnt /

verb

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

Other Word Forms

• unattainted
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of attaint

1250–1300; Middle English ataynte, derivative of ataynt convicted < Anglo-French, Old French, past participle of ataindre to convict, attain

Example Sentences

What simple thief brags of his own attaint?

From The Comedy of Errors The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.] by Clark, William George

Nor if happily boys declare Thy dominion attaint, refuse, 130 Youth, the nuts to be flinging.

From The Poems and Fragments of Catullus by Ellis, Robinson

The blood of one convicted of high treason is "attaint," and his deprivations extend to his descendants, unless Parliament remove the attainder.

From The English Mail-Coach and Joan of Arc by De Quincey, Thomas

Now Parliament was called on by the king himself to attaint his ministers and his Queens.

From History of the English People, Volume IV by Green, John Richard

Even to have kicked an outsider might have been held to attaint the foot concerned in that operation, so that, perhaps, it would have required an act of Parliament to restore its purity of blood.

From The English Mail-Coach and Joan of Arc by De Quincey, Thomas