adulterate

5 definitions found

adulterate - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Adulterate \A*dul"ter*ate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Adulterated;
     p. pr. & vb. n. Adulterating.] [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.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. To defile by adultery. [Obs.] --Milton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The present war has . . . adulterated our tongue
              with strange words.                   --Spectator.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Syn: To corrupt; defile; debase; contaminate; vitiate;
          sophisticate.
          [1913 Webster]

  Adulterate \A*dul"ter*ate\, v. i.
     To commit adultery. [Obs.]
     [1913 Webster]

  Adulterate \A*dul"ter*ate\, a.
     1. Tainted with adultery.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Debased by the admixture of a foreign substance;
        adulterated; spurious.
        [1913 Webster] -- A*dul"ter*ate*ly, adv. --
        A*dul"ter*ate*ness, n.
        [1913 Webster]

adulterate - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  adulterate
      adj 1: mixed with impurities [syn: adulterate, adulterated,
             debased]
      v 1: corrupt, debase, or make impure by adding a foreign or
           inferior substance; often by replacing valuable ingredients
           with inferior ones; "adulterate liquor" [syn: load,
           adulterate, stretch, dilute, debase]

adulterate - Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 :

  72 Moby Thesaurus words for "adulterate":
     alloy, attenuate, baptize, bastardize, canker, cheapen, coarsen,
     confound, contaminate, cook, corrupt, cut, deacon, debase, debauch,
     defile, deflower, degenerate, degrade, denaturalize, denature,
     deprave, desecrate, despoil, devalue, dilute, distort, doctor,
     doctor up, etherealize, expand, fake, falsify, fortify, infect,
     irrigate, juggle, lace, load, manipulate, misuse, pack, pervert,
     plant, poison, pollute, prostitute, rarefy, ravage, ravish, reduce,
     retouch, rig, salt, sophisticate, spike, stack, subtilize, taint,
     tamper with, thin, thin out, twist, ulcerate, violate, vitiate,
     vulgarize, warp, water, water down, weaken, weight