ADULTERATE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Adulterate

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/ədˈəltərˌeɪt/ Listen

verb

Adulterate v. t. (past & past part. adulterated; pres. part. adulterating)

To defile by adultery. (Obs.)

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."

Synonyms: To corrupt; defile; debase; contaminate; vitiate; sophisticate.

Adulterate v. i. To commit adultery. (Obs.)

adjective

Adulterate adj.

Tainted with adultery.

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

See images of 'Adulterate'

Etymology of 'Adulterate'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Adulterate" Quotes from Famous Books

... man of my turn and temperament have, to live in a place where every corner teems with fresh objects of detestation and disgust? What kind of taste and organs must those people have, who really prefer the adulterate enjoyments of the town to the genuine pleasures of a country retreat? Most people, I know, are originally seduced by vanity, ambition, and childish curiosity; which cannot be gratified, but in the busy haunts of men: but, in the course of this gratification, their very organs of sense ...

— The Expedition of Humphry Clinker • Tobias Smollett

... reason to suspect that the old custom of using Darnel to adulterate malt and distilled liquors has not been wholly abandoned. Farmers in Devonshire are fond of the Ray Grass, which they call "Eaver" or "Iver"; and "Devon-ever" ...

— Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure • William Thomas Fernie

... by those in the Christian church who adulterate its goods and truths; and those do this who separate truth from good and good from truth; also, who assume and confirm appearances of truth and fallacies for genuine truths; and likewise, who know truths of doctrine derived from the Word, and live evil lives, not to mention other like ...

— The Delights of Wisdom Pertaining to Conjugial Love • Emanuel Swedenborg

... strict in their manner of life—abstemious, laborious, devoted, and holy ... living as men who are not of the world. But you, say they, lovers of the world, have peace with the world, because ye are in it. False apostles, who adulterate the word of God, seeking their own things, have misled you and your ancestors. Whereas, we and our fathers, having been born and brought up in the apostolic doctrine, have continued in the grace of Christ, and shall continue so to the end.... They affirm that the apostolic dignity is corrupted ...

— The Revelation Explained • F. Smith

... about half a dollar per Farasilah of twenty pounds: cow's and sheep's butter may fetch a dollar's worth of cloth for the measure of thirty-two pounds. This great article of commerce is good and pure in the country, whereas at Berberah, the Habr Awal adulterate it, previous to exportation, ...

— First footsteps in East Africa • Richard F. Burton

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