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Related forms
nontinted, adjective
overtint, verb
overtint, noun
retint, verb (used with object)
untinted, adjective

Source: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/untinted?s=t

One un- is added to verbs to indicate the reversal of an action:
Non- is added to nouns that imply some “action, condition, or quality.” The addition of “non-” has the sense of “absence or lack of”: Ex. non-standard.

Source: http://bottomlineenglish.com/when-to-use-the-negative-prefixes-un-and-non


Question:

In the following would un-tinted or non-tinted be the correct use, and preferably an explanation why. It seems like non-tinted is the better description based on the BottomEnglish explanation but I'm not sure. Un- seems to imply the act of removing a tint, Non- just means lacking a tint. To me it's easy to think "That window was just un-tinted by the mechanic." While "The car for sale has non-tinted windows."

While on non-tinted windows the sticker is barely visible.

While on un-tinted windows the sticker is barely visible.

Am I correct understanding that non-tinted is the better use in this sentence?

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  • Why not clear?
    – SrJoven
    Commented Oct 31, 2014 at 22:15

2 Answers 2

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So, first off, you're looking for the adjective versions, so the quote about 'un for verbs' would be better replaced by the section from the same source on 'un for adjectives':

The other un- is added to adjectives to indicate the opposite of the positive form of the adjective.

And one of the examples it gives is dyed/undyed, a very similar concept to tinting. From my own experience, I've heard untinted, but not nontinted, and Google's ngrams seem to indicate a similar picture: NGram Chart

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  • His confusion may be based on the fact that this is a past-tense verb being used as an adjective. I'm not sure English is consistent about whether to apply verb or adjective rules in such cases.
    – Barmar
    Commented Oct 31, 2014 at 22:13
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"non-" implies the absence of a given condition.

"un-" implies the reversal or removal of a given existing condition.

Applying this concept to gasoline, we see that "UNleaded" gasoline is a complete misnomer, since gasoline IS NATURALLY nonleaded and that only a fool would take leaded gasoline, remove the lead and then call it UNleaded gasoline.

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