taint

The message that Washington will no longer accept business-as-usual was a sharp warning for Sheinbaum, a long-time academic and U.S.-educated scientist who, by all accounts, is free from the taint of corruption.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 26, 2026

Meghan had divorced a talent manager in 2014, a taint on her résumé from The Firm’s perspective.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 11, 2026

He also voiced concern that the draft lottery debate could "negatively taint the whole effort".

From Barron's ● Oct. 18, 2025

So as not to taint the results, I can’t talk too much about what we are testing here, but the purpose is to address some lingering questions about the dress effect and related stimuli.

From Slate ● Feb. 26, 2025

She was sensible enough to sit out jitterbug numbers and avoid music with a South American taint, and Henry said when she learned to talk and dance at the same time she’d be a hit.

From "Go Set a Watchman: A Novel" by Harper Lee

He’d lost around 1,000 records during that incident, as wildfire smoke, like mold, taints the thick paper board album covers, rendering them toxic over prolonged periods of exposure.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 22, 2025

“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

This anthropological ethnic elitism was a common underpinning feature of much 19th-century archaeology and taints aspects of some of the speculation regarding American Vikings in the 21st century.

From Slate ● Nov. 11, 2023

Anything that taints their preconceived notion of how they should be.

From Salon ● Oct. 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

Walters’ supporters further argue that Oxford’s statements implicating Walters—as well as Travis’ testimony against him—were tainted, the result of the men being coerced by police and angling for lighter sentences.

From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026

In it he argued that all Western literature and art about the Islamic world is tainted by imperial power and its projected fantasies.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026

But the Japanese method involves removing that tainted water and replacing it with a fresh batch.

From Barron's ● Sep. 6, 2026

In mitigation on Wednesday, his barrister Richard Wright KC said Bush offered an apology and accepted his conduct "tainted the memory of every person who has passed through his hands".

From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026

She shouldn’t have entered the tomb, she shouldn’t have strayed into the sacred places of the dead when she was so stained and tainted by her crimes.

From "Throne of Glass" by Sarah J. Maas

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

His independent streak and defiance of colonial protocols often landed him in trouble - tainting his reputation and perhaps even erasing parts of his contribution from global memory.

From BBC ● Apr. 18, 2025

My rage spills out of me, tainting every move.

From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir