ADULTERATE

adulterate, adulterated, debased

(adjective) mixed with impurities

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Adjective

adulterate (comparative more adulterate, superlative most adulterate)

Tending to commit adultery.

Corrupted; impure; adulterated.

Verb

adulterate (third-person singular simple present adulterates, present participle adulterating, simple past and past participle adulterated)

To corrupt.

To spoil by adding impurities.

Spectator

To commit adultery.

To defile by adultery.

Synonyms

• debase

Source: Wiktionary


A*dul"ter*ate, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Adulterated; p. pr. & vb. n Adulterating.] Etym: [L. adulteratus, p. p. of adulterare, fr. adulter adulterer, prob. fr. ad + alter other, properly one who approaches another on account of unlawful love. Cf. Advoutry.]

1. To defile by adultery. [Obs.] Milton.

2. To corrupt, debase, or make impure by an admixture of a foreign or a baser substance; as, to adulterate food, drink, drugs, coin, etc. The present war has . . . adulterated our tongue with strange words. Spectator.

Syn.

– To corrupt; defile; debase; contaminate; vitiate; sophisticate.

A*dul"ter*ate, v. i.

Definition: To commit adultery. [Obs.]

A*dul"ter*ate, a.

1. Tainted with adultery.

2. Debased by the admixture of a foreign substance; adulterated; spurious.

– A*dul"ter*ate*ly, adv.

– A*dul"ter*ate*ness, n.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

9 June 2025

HERMAPHRODITE

(noun) one having both male and female sexual characteristics and organs; at birth an unambiguous assignment of male or female cannot be made


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According to Guinness World Records, the largest iced coffee is 14,228.1 liters and was created by Caffé Bene (South Korea), in Yangju, South Korea, on 17 July 2014. They poured iced black Americano on the giant cup that measured 3.3 meters tall and 2.62 meters wide.

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