Vitiation
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A reduction in the value, or an impairment in the quality of something. countable, uncountable
"1810, George Wilson, M.D., F.R.D.E. Ch. II. General Sketch of Cavendish's Scientific Researches and Discoveries, in The Life of the Honᵇˡᵉ Henry Cavendish, p. 39. […] air was universally reputed to be a simple or elementary body. It was liable, according to the phlogistians, to vitiation, by the addition to it of phlogiston […] being more or less phlogisticated, according to the degree of its power to support respiration and combustion."
- 2 nullification by the destruction of the legal force; rendering null wordnet
- 3 Moral corruption. countable, uncountable
- 4 An abolition or abrogation. countable, uncountable
Example
More examples"1810, George Wilson, M.D., F.R.D.E. Ch. II. General Sketch of Cavendish's Scientific Researches and Discoveries, in The Life of the Honᵇˡᵉ Henry Cavendish, p. 39. […] air was universally reputed to be a simple or elementary body. It was liable, according to the phlogistians, to vitiation, by the addition to it of phlogiston […] being more or less phlogisticated, according to the degree of its power to support respiration and combustion."
Etymology
From Latin vitiare (“to spoil, damage”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.