0 to make or (especially of metal) become less bright or a different colour --
1 to make people think that someone or something is less good: --
2 (of metal surfaces) to become less bright or a different color: --
[ T ] The scandal has tarnished the agency’s reputation.
I never suggested that the general public service was tarnished.
We are also considering a system of civil fines for behaviour that, although not criminal, nevertheless tarnishes the market's reputation.
Even before the quake, the mass media had tarnished the image of incorporated public-interest corporations.
Such pronouncements, implicit and explicit, made by the judiciary, tarnish the honour of the family rather than redeem it.
We have to be careful concerning anything which tarnishes the nation.
The idiosyncratic, eclectic, out-of-date focus tarnishes a work that fails to be either a good reference book or a stirring survey of contemporary research.
The team's unbeaten start to the 1948-49 season was tarnished by reports of poor and unfair play.
In his interviews, the belief that self-interests tarnished the purity of the struggle is strong.