Careful Words

tainted (adj.)

In law, what plea so tainted and corrupt

But being season'd with a gracious voice

Obscures the show of evil?

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): The Merchant of Venice. Act iii. Sc. 2.

I am a tainted wether of the flock,

Meetest for death: the weakest kind of fruit

Drops earliest to the ground.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): The Merchant of Venice. Act iv. Sc. 1.