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attaint

UK/əˈteɪnt/US/əˈteɪnt/
verbC2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechToo rare in one of the two pools to compare — fewer than 20 uses in speech or in writing

Other forms: attainted

To attaint is to strip somebody of rights after a conviction. Attainted for treason, the family was attainted, an act of attainder.

An attainted person lost their title and their property and could pass nothing to their heirs, which is why it was the sting in a treason sentence. It was abolished in Britain in 1870.

Definitions of attaint

  1. 1verbattaintTo strip somebody of rights after a conviction.C2

    “After the failed rebellion, the earl was attainted and lost all his lands and titles.”

attaint is a stripping.

Where it comes from

Old French ateint comes from ateindre, to convict, later influenced by taint.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *teh₂g-

  2. Old French

    ateint

  3. Middle English

    atteinte

  4. English, today

    attaint

From Middle English atteinte, from Old French ateint, past participle of ateindre; in some senses influenced by taint.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

Practise this word

attaint in the wild

  • The House of Lords later passed the Pains and Penalties Bill 1820, which attempted to attaint Queen Caroline, but it was not considered by the House of Commons.

    Bill of attainder

  • Anyone condemned of capital crimes could be attainted, sometimes as a substitute for the dreaded common law treason.

    Attainder

  • A writ of attaint is an obsolete writ in English law, issued to inquire whether a jury had given a false verdict in a trial.

    Writ of attaint

  • In criminal cases, the writ of attaint was issued at the suit of the Crown, and in civil cases at the suit of either party.

    Writ of attaint

  • Historically, this has been the punishment of champions overcome, or yielding in the combat; of jurors found guilty in a writ of attaint; and of persons outlawed.

    Amittere legem terrae

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.