taint
1 Americannoun
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
noun
verb
-
to affect or be affected by pollution or contamination
oil has tainted the water
-
to tarnish (someone's reputation, etc)
noun
-
a defect or flaw
a taint on someone's reputation
-
a trace of contamination or infection
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
taintsimple
-
taintssimple
-
have taintedperfect
-
has taintedperfect
-
am taintingprogressive
-
are taintingprogressive
-
is taintingprogressive
-
have been taintingperfect progressive
-
has been taintingperfect progressive
Past
-
taintedsimple
-
had taintedperfect
-
was taintingprogressive
-
were taintingprogressive
-
had been taintingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of taint1
First recorded in 1325–75; conflation of Middle English taynt, shortened variant of attaint “struck, attainted,” past participle of attainten “to convict” ( see attaint), late Middle English taynt “hue, tint” ( see tint), from Anglo-French teint or directly from Latin tinctus, equivalent to ting(ere) “to dye, color“ ( see tinge) + -tus suffix of verb action); and teinte, from Late Latin tincta “inked stroke,” noun use of feminine of past participle of tingere
Origin of taint2
First recorded in 1955–60; casual pronunciation of it ain’t (the one or the other), i.e., it is the area in between
Explanation
Taint means to contaminate. If you don’t want to taint your drinking water, don’t use an old gas can as a water pitcher. Tainting something makes it impure. To taint something is to spoil or corrupt it, whether it’s water, food, or even a person’s soul. These days, taint gets in the news if a company accidentally taints meat with salmonella bacteria, for example. If you add something poisonous to a substance, you taint it. A silly person might say when you taint something, t’aint right.
Vocabulary lists containing taint
Metaphors from Top AP English Exam Novels
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Monster
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "T"
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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.
See Examples For:
“It’s a crisis for a unit when its head is suspected of such serious violations of the law,” he said, adding that the episode shouldn’t “contaminate and taint the entire unit.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025
He also voiced concern that the draft lottery debate could "negatively taint the whole effort".
From Barron's ● Oct. 18, 2025
In doing so, they become less compelling and less likely to taint your interpretations of future interactions.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 14, 2025
Escaping the taint of what spilled from the capsule and cut that day has been hard for all involved.
From BBC ● Mar. 24, 2025
“It is enough. I will make you the High King, although the stain of what you have done will forever taint your rule.”
From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black
"These individuals should have no place in our game and collectively we have to take action to punish everyone who taints the sport like this, no matter who they are."
From BBC ● Feb. 22, 2026
A 2017 study found that human-caused noise, largely from roads, taints nearly two-thirds of America’s protected areas.
From Slate ● May 25, 2024
“Where is the line between an ethical lapse or a political misjudgment and something that kind of taints this office?” he asked.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 19, 2024
That authentic silhouette would erase the creep of modernization that taints many rental costumes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 11, 2023
As if having a sofa in a house on the ground taints its history in a house up in the sky.
From "Landscape with Invisible Hand" by M.T. Anderson
"It doesn't really surprise me at all that the Church was involved. There's very little that we inherit that isn't tainted by historic injustice somewhere along the line," he says.
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026
The 2010 competition would later be tainted by a corruption scandal.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 8, 2026
Some members of her party have pushed Sheinbaum to sever ties with Rocha Moya and other leaders suspected of links to organized crime, lest Morena be tainted by the allegations.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2026
In a rare move, Crenshaw dismissed the criminal indictment after declaring the prosecution against Abrego Garcia a blatantly tainted investigation “with a vindictive motive.”
From Slate ● May 28, 2026
Given the abundance of evidence against Hale and Ramsey, White believed that the verdict would depend, in large part, on whether the witnesses and the jury became tainted.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
For the past five days, lawyers for Robinson, a trainee electrician, raised repeated objections to evidence and testimony on arguments including hearsay and the tainting of potential jurors.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
Overturning Balogun’s red card has rankled even some American soccer fans, who see the intervention as tainting a U.S. run that had been gathering momentum.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026
While none of the investigations target the president, Brazilians' weariness with corruption "ends up tainting those in power," Edinho Silva, head of the Workers' Party, lamented.
From Barron's ● Apr. 24, 2026
The audio, published by ABC 7, sparked anger and frustration from the brothers’ relatives and their attorney, who accused the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation of leaking the audio and tainting Lyle’s hearing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2025
My rage spills out of me, tainting every move.
From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir
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.
