Tarnish

//ˈtɑːnɪʃ// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Oxidation or discoloration, especially of a decorative metal exposed to air. uncountable, usually

    "1918, Hannah Teresa Rowley, Mrs. Helen Louise (Wales) Farrell, Principles of Chemistry Applied to the Household Precipitated calcium carbonate, a very fine powdery form, is used as a basis for many tooth powders and pastes. As whiting it finds a wide use in cleaning metals of their tarnishes."

  2. 2
    discoloration of metal surface caused by oxidation wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To oxidize or discolor due to oxidation. intransitive

    "Careful storage of silver will prevent it from tarnishing."

  2. 2
    make dirty or spotty, as by exposure to air; also used metaphorically wordnet
  3. 3
    To compromise, damage, soil, or sully. transitive

    "He is afraid that she will tarnish his reputation if he disagrees with her."

  4. 4
    To lose its lustre or attraction; to become dull. figuratively, intransitive

    "Till thy freſh Glories, which now ſhine ſo bright, / Grow Stale and Tarniſh with our dayly ſight."

  5. 5
    To use a sign, image, expression, etc. sufficiently close to a trademarked one that it brings disrepute to it.

Synonyms

All synonyms
defilestainsully;achromatizeasperse

Example

More examples

"He is afraid that he will tarnish his reputation if he disagrees."

Etymology

From Middle English ternysshen, from Old French terniss-, stem of ternir (“to make dim, make wan”), borrowed from Old High German *ternen, tarnen, from Proto-West Germanic *darnijan (“to conceal”). Doublet of dern and darn.

Related phrases

cloudy silverold metalon silveroxidized silver

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.