adulterate
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˈdʌltəɹeɪt/
ipa: [-ˈdɒl-]
ipa: /əˈdʌltəˌɹeɪt/
ipa: [-ˈdəl-]
ipa: /əˈdʌltəɹeɪt/
ipa: [-ˈdɒl-]
ipa: /əˈdʌltəˌɹeɪt/
ipa: [-ˈdəl-]
Forms: form: adulterates
form: adulterating
form: adulterated
form: adulterated
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: adulterate
form: adulterate
form: adulterated
form: adulterate
form: adulteratest
form: adulterated
form: adulteratedst
form: adulterates
form: adulterateth
form: adulterated
form: adulterate
form: adulterated
form: adulterate
form: adulterated
form: adulterate
form: -
form: adulterating
form: adulterated
Etymology: From Latin adulterātus, see Etymology 1 and -ate (verb-forming suffix).
Senses: examples: text: 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?
ref: 1692, John Milton, chapter XII, in [Joseph Washington], transl., A Defence of the People of England, […]: In Answer to Salmasius’s Defence of the King, [London?]: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 237:
synonyms: sophisticate
glosses: To corrupt, to debase (someone or something).
examples: text: to adulterate coins, drugs, food and drink, etc.
text: The present war has so adulterated our tongue with strange words, that it would be impossible for one of our great grandfathers to know what his posterity have been doing, were he to read their exploits in a modern newspaper.
ref: 1711 September 19 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “SATURDAY, September 8, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 165; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 356:
synonyms: word: adulter
word: debase
word: sophisticate
glosses: To make less valuable or spoil (something) by adding impurities or other substances.
synonyms: word: adulter
glosses: To commit adultery with (someone).
examples: text: Yet ſome would perſwade us, that this abſurd opinion was King Davids; becauſe in the 51st Pſalm he cries out to God, Againſt thee onely have I ſinn'd; as if David had imagin'd that to murder Uriah and adulterate his Wife, had bin no ſinn againſt his Neighbour, when as that Law of Moſes was to the King expreſly, Deut. 17. not to think ſo highly of himſelf above his Brethren.
ref: 1649, J[ohn] M[ilton], The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates: […], London: […] Matthew Simmons, […], published 1649 (2nd printing), →OCLC, page 13:
glosses: To defile (someone) by adultery.
examples: text: But Fortune, oh, / She is corrupted, chang’d, and wonne from thee, / Sh’adulterates hourely with thine Vnckle Iohn, / And with her golden hand hath pluckt on France / To tread downe faire reſpect of Soueraigntie, / And made his Maieſtie the bawd to theirs.
ref: c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], page 8, column 2:
glosses: To commit adultery.
Derived terms: adulterator
Related terms: word: adulterant
word: adulterated
word: adulterately
word: adulterating
word: adulteration
word: adulterator
word: adultered
word: adulterer
word: adulteress
word: adulterine
word: adultering
word: adulterism
word: adulterize
english: noun (archaic, historical)
translation: noun (archaic, historical)
word: adulter
word: adulterous
word: adulterously
word: adultery