MEANING
To spoil or compromise the quality or perceived purity of something, including by contamination.
Use it for
Food suspected of contamination; corruption entering a trusted source; moral contaminationUse it when suspicion and compromised purity matter more than the precise agent.
Words that belong together
- tainted meat
- taint the supply
- taint a reputation
On the page
The strange odor suggested that the meat was tainted.
Something had tainted the emergency water supply.
The discovery tainted every account the laboratory had published.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- taint / taints
- Past tense
- tainted
- Past participle
- tainted
- Present participle
- tainting
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- taint / taints
- Present continuous
- am/is/are tainting
- Present perfect
- have/has tainted
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been tainting
- Past
- tainted
- Past continuous
- was/were tainting
- Past perfect
- had tainted
- Past perfect continuous
- had been tainting
- Future
- will taint / taints
- Future continuous
- will be tainting
- Future perfect
- will have tainted
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been tainting
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: horror. Can concern taste, reputation, or moral association; less technically exact than contaminate. Does not establish infection or toxicity by itself. Verb [base, third-person present, past, past participle, -ing]: taint, taints, tainted, tainted, tainting.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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