Word.ws English Dictionary

attainted

UK/əˈteɪntɪd/US/əˈteɪntəd/

attainted is the simple past and past participle of attaint.

Adjective

attainted (comparative more attainted, superlative most attainted)

  1. Subject to attainder; condemned to death or outlawry, hence stripped of one's titles, hereditary rights, or possessions.
    • The king stands in your father's place, since your brother is an attainted traitor.2000 August 8, George R[aymond] R[ichard] Martin, “Sansa [Stark]”, in A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire; 3), London: Voyager, →ISBN, page 317
    • Besides, Suffolk, attainted – stripped of his hereditary title – was no longer a member of the nobility, merely ‘Ed. Rebel’.2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin, published 2012, page 228
  2. (archaic) Tainted, corrupted.

Meaning of attaint

Verb

attaint (third-person singular simple present attaints, present participle attainting, simple past and past participle attainted)

  1. (archaic) To subject to attainder; to condemn (someone) to death and extinction of all civil rights.
    • Tom Truth is attainted. All he has — not much — is forfeit to the king, and he is entitled to nothing but a traitorʼs death.2020, Hilary Mantel, The Mirror and the Light, Fourth Estate, page 216
  2. (archaic) To subject to calumny; to accuse of a crime or dishonour.
    • CHARLES STUART. Attainted and proscribed by name and grade in his British regiment.1929, William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury, New York: Vintage, published 1956, Appendix, p. 405
  3. (archaic) To taint; to corrupt, sully.
    • Amoret right fearefull was and faint, / Lest she with blame her honor should attaint […].1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

See all 8 meanings of attaint

Forms of attainted

comparativemore attainted
superlativemost attainted

Origin of attainted

From attaint + -ed.

Words formed from attainted

Questions about attainted

What does attainted mean?
Attainted means subject to attainder; condemned to death or outlawry, hence stripped of one's titles, hereditary rights, or possessions.
What is attainted the simple past and past participle of?
Attainted is the simple past and past participle of attaint.
What part of speech is attainted?
Attainted is an adjective.
How do you pronounce attainted?
Attainted is pronounced /əˈteɪntɪd/ (UK).

Words near attainted in the dictionary

  1. attainments
  2. attainor
  3. attainors
  4. attains
  5. attaint
  6. attainted
  7. attainteth
  8. attainting
  9. attaintment
  10. attaintments
  11. attaints

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: attainted (page history and authors); attaint (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “attainted.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/attainted. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.