tainted

American  

[teyn-tid] / ˈteɪn tɪd /

adjective

1. infected, contaminated, corrupted, or spoiled.

   An outbreak of salmonella poisoning linked to eating tainted ground turkey has resulted in several deaths.

2. affected by a trace of something bad, offensive, or harmful.

   We strongly urge you to distance your charitable organization from this discredited project and its tainted money.

3. (of the name, reputation, etc., of a person or group) sullied or tarnished.

   Having such a program available to these students could help fix the tainted reputation many feel our school has earned.

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verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of taint.

Other Word Forms

• untainted adjective

Etymology

Origin of tainted

taint ¹ ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

Example Sentences

"It was very much a once-in-a-lifetime trip, and unfortunately, it had to be tainted by what was happening behind closed doors," she said.

From BBC

“Those one and a half hours tainted everything we did, and so much of what we did was original research.”

From Los Angeles Times

But "it is hard to tell whether they would now believe she is too tainted," said Max Goldbart, international TV editor at Deadline.

From BBC

Not only was it unfamiliar, but it felt tainted, as if we intended to pull something over on James.

From Literature

Leo came to Scotland excited to meet new friends and settle into a calm routine far from the chaos that tainted his home life before.

From BBC

Related Words

• contaminated
• corrupted
• dirty
• infected
• polluted
• rotten