adulterate
/əˈdʌltəɹət/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 1.65 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
4
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Tending to commit adultery; relating to or being the product of adultery; adulterous.
Archaic; Literary
verb
To make less valuable or spoil (something) by adding impurities or other substances.
Archaic; Literary; Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "Theſe, and other like places in abundance through all thoſe ſhort Epiſtles, muſt either be adulterat, or elſe Ignatius [of Antioch] was not Ignatius, nor a Martyr, but moſt adulterate, and corrupt himſelf."
- "I am poſſeſt with an adulterate blot, / My bloud is mingled with the crime of luſt: [...]"
- "I [i.e., ay] that inceſtuous, that adulterate beaſt, / With witchcraft of his wits, with trayterous gifts, / O wicked wit, and giftes that haue the power / So to ſeduce; wonne to his ſhamefull luſt / The will of my moſt ſeeming vertuous Queene; [...]"
- "[C]urse the day / When first Spain's queen beheld the black-ey'd boy, / And gore-fac'd Treason sprung from her adulterate joy."
- "For thus, that King violated that Oath which he ought moſt religiouſly to have ſworn to; but that he might not ſeem openly and publickly to violate it, he craftily adulterated and corrupted it; and leaſt he himſelf ſhould be accounted perjur'd, he turn'd the very Oath into a Perjury. [...] And who durſt pervert and adulterate that Law which he thought the only Obſtacle that ſtood in his way, and hindred him from perverting all the reſt of the Laws?"
- "to adulterate coins, drugs, food and drink, etc."
Etymology
From Latin adulterātus (“adulterate, adulterated, defiled, polluted, counterfeited”), perfect passive participle of adulterō (“to adulterate, defile, commit adultery (with), counterfeit”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from ad- (“to, in the direction of”) + alter (“other”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix), literally “to go after someone else”. Equivalent to adultery + -ate.
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *h₂el- (other), adulterātus
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /əˈdʌltəɹət/
- British English: /əˈdʌltəɹət/
Usage
Inflected Forms
more adulterate (comparative)
most adulterate (superlative)
adulterates (present, singular)
adulterating (participle, present)
adulterated (participle, past)
adulterated (past)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
adulterated (first person, past)
adulteratest (archaic, present)
adulterated (past, second person)
adulteratedst (archaic, past)