From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishtainttaint1 /teɪnt/ verb [transitive] 1 SPOILif a situation or person is tainted by something, it damages them by making them seem bad Baker argues that his trial was tainted by negative publicity.2 to damage something by adding an unwanted substance to itbe tainted with something The water had been tainted with a deadly toxin.Grammar Taint is usually passive.→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
taint• As a result, consumers no longer see used vehicles as somehow tainted and risky.• Some of the front-runners fortunately are not tainted by committee membership, nor do they look like Ed Moore clones.• In this interpretation, Benjamin has been tainted by his relationship with Mrs Robinson and her alcoholic self-loathing.• Will their reputations be tainted by something that may end up a cruel game of Washington politics?• The spreading leprosy taints ev'ry part, Infects each limb, and sickens at the heart.• Catty and stale aromas may develop and taint the beer.• It appeared the water supply had been tainted with a deadly toxin.tainttaint2 noun [singular] BADthe appearance of being related to something bad or morally wrongtaint of The city has suffered for many years under the taint of corruption.Examples from the Corpus
taint• But the scruples would spawn in his head, giving a cynical taint to his image of himself.• Neither were judicial and court officials free from the taint of corruption.• From the taint of sadism, the hint of superiority, the woman evidently wanted her to fail.• By age thirty, $ 500,000-and that sum had the taint of the mediocre.• I understood the taint that adheres to everything domestic.• The taint of politics in conservation is not peculiar to the federal agencies.• Other aspects of acceptability relate to the product behaviour in relation to taint, corrosion and harmonisation with house colour codes.taint of• The city has suffered for many years under the taint of corruption.Origin taint1 (1500-1600) Partly from Anglo-French teinter “to color”, from Latin tingere ( → TINGE2); partly from Old French ataint, from ataindre ( → ATTAIN) 