contaminate

4 definitions found

contaminate - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Contaminate \Con*tam"i*nate\ (-n[asl]t), a.
     Contaminated; defiled; polluted; tainted. "Contaminate
     drink." --Daniel.
     [1913 Webster]

  Contaminate \Con*tam"i*nate\ (k[o^]n*t[a^]m"[i^]*n[=a]t), v. t.
     [imp. & p. p. Contaminated; p. pr. & vb. n.
     Contaminating.] [L. contaminatus, p. p. of contaminare to
     bring into contact, to contaminate, fr. contamen contagion,
     for contagmen; con- + root of tangere to touch. See
     Contact.]
     To soil, stain, or corrupt by contact; to tarnish; to sully;
     to taint; to pollute; to defile.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           Shall we now
           Contaminate our figures with base bribes? --Shak.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           I would neither have simplicity imposed upon, nor
           virtue contaminated.                     --Goldsmith.
  
     Syn: To pollute; defile; sully; taint; tarnish; soil; stain;
          corrupt.
          [1913 Webster]

contaminate - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  contaminate
      v 1: make impure; "The industrial wastes polluted the lake"
           [syn: pollute, foul, contaminate]
      2: make radioactive by adding radioactive material; "Don't drink
         the water--it's contaminated" [ant: decontaminate]

contaminate - Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 :

  66 Moby Thesaurus words for "contaminate":
     activate, adulterate, alloy, bastardize, befoul, benasty, canker,
     charge, cheapen, coarsen, confound, corrupt, cut, debase, debauch,
     defile, deflower, degenerate, degrade, denaturalize, denature,
     deprave, desecrate, despoil, devalue, dilute, dirty, disease,
     distort, doctor, doctor up, fortify, foul, harm, infect, injure,
     irradiate, lace, mess, mess up, misuse, nasty, pervert, poison,
     pollute, prostitute, radiumize, ravage, ravish, rot, soil, spike,
     spoil, stain, sully, taint, tamper with, tarnish, twist, ulcerate,
     violate, vitiate, vulgarize, warp, water, water down