taint

¹ American  

Or t'aint

noun

Slang: Vulgar.

1. the area between the testicles or vulva and the anus; the perineum.

---

taint ² American  

[teynt] / teɪnt /

noun

1. a trace of something bad, offensive, or harmful.

   Synonyms:

   stain, blemish, spot, fault, flaw, defect

2. a trace of infection, contamination, or the like.

3. a trace of dishonor or discredit.

4. Obsolete. color; tint.

---

verb (used with object)

1. to modify by or as if by a trace of something offensive or deleterious.

2. to infect, contaminate, corrupt, or spoil.

   Synonyms:

   poison, pollute, defile

3. to sully or tarnish (a person's name, reputation, etc.).

   Synonyms:

   stain, dishonor

4. Obsolete. to color or tint.

verb (used without object)

1. to become tainted; spoil.

taint British  

/ teɪnt /

verb

1. to affect or be affected by pollution or contamination

   oil has tainted the water

2. to tarnish (someone's reputation, etc)

---

noun

1. a defect or flaw

   a taint on someone's reputation

2. a trace of contamination or infection

Other Word Forms

• taintless adjective
• untainting adjective

Etymology

Origin of taint¹

First recorded in 1955–60; casual pronunciation of it ain’t (the one or the other), i.e., it is the area in between

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” ( attaint ), late Middle English taynt “hue, tint” ( tint ), from Anglo-French teint or directly from Latin tinctus, equivalent to ting(ere) “to dye, color“ ( tinge ) + -tus suffix of verb action); and teinte, from Late Latin tincta “inked stroke,” noun use of feminine of past participle of tingere

Example Sentences

But there can be no doubt that the York brand is now tainted beyond repair.

From BBC

The recall of potentially contaminated infant formula has heaped scrutiny on Chinese firm Cabio Biotech, the supplier of an ingredient used in infant formula which is suspected of being tainted.

From Barron's

“A big concern is the research that Ives does is going to be tainted because of an affiliation with the ETF that holds the stocks for which he’s doing research,” Bradshaw says.

From Barron's

By doing so, she became the Other, tainted by association.

From Salon

Technical advances including improved chips have helped overcome early problems with poor battery life, buggy software, and stumbling conversations that tainted early pendant models.

From Barron's

Related Words

• besmirch
• blight
• cloud
• corrupt
• damage
• discredit
• harm
• hurt
• infect
• muddy
• poison
• pollute
• smear
• spoil
• stain
• sully
• tar
• tarnish