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Adulterate
Definitions
- 1 Corrupted or made impure by being mixed with something else; adulterated. archaic, literary
"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."
- 2 Tending to commit adultery; relating to or being the product of adultery; adulterous. archaic, literary
"I am poſſeſt with an adulterate blot, / My bloud is mingled with the crime of luſt: [...]"
- 1 mixed with impurities wordnet
- 1 To corrupt, to debase (someone or something). archaic, literary, transitive
"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?"
- 2 corrupt, debase, or make impure by adding a foreign or inferior substance; often by replacing valuable ingredients with inferior ones wordnet
- 3 To make less valuable or spoil (something) by adding impurities or other substances. archaic, literary, transitive
"to adulterate coins, drugs, food and drink, etc."
- 4 To commit adultery with (someone). archaic, literary, transitive
- 5 To defile (someone) by adultery. archaic, literary, transitive
"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."
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- 6 To commit adultery. also, archaic, figuratively, intransitive, literary
"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."
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.
From Latin adulterātus, see Etymology 1 and -ate (verb-forming suffix).
See also for "adulterate"
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