Definition of Contaminate

1. Verb. Make impure. "The industrial wastes polluted the lake"


2. Verb. Make radioactive by adding radioactive material. "Don't drink the water--it's contaminated"
Generic synonyms: Alter, Change, Modify
Derivative terms: Contamination, Contamination, Contamination, Contaminative
Antonyms: Decontaminate

Definition of Contaminate

1. v. t. To soil, stain, or corrupt by contact; to tarnish; to sully; to taint; to pollute; to defile.

2. a. Contaminated; defiled; polluted; tainted.

Definition of Contaminate

1. Verb. To introduce impurities or foreign matter; to soil or defile. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Contaminate

1. [v -NATED, -NATING, -NATES]

Medical Definition of Contaminate

1. To cause or result in contamination. Origin: L. Con-tamino, to mingle, corrupt (05 Mar 2000)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Contaminate

containers
containersful
containership
containerships
containest
containeth
containing
containment
containment of biohazards
containment vessel
containments
contains
contaminable
contaminant
contaminants
contaminate (current term)
contaminated
contaminates
contaminating
contamination
contaminations
contaminative
contaminator
contaminators
contango
contangos
contd
conte
conteck
contecks

Literary usage of Contaminate

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Works of John C. Calhoun by John Caldwell Calhoun, Richard Kenner Crallé (1851)
"It would be, in such case, the conduit through which all the factious feelings of the day would enter and contaminate justice at its source. ..."

2. A Plea for Sacramental Communion on Catholick Principles by John Mitchell Mason (1816)
"... pure for such communion ; ie that such communion would contaminate her in the eyes of her God, and bring down upon her the tokens of his displeasure. ..."

3. On asthma: Its Pathology and Treatment by Henry Hyde Salter (1882)
"Irritant sometime« humoral ; a contaminate pulmonary blood.—Physiological argument: Spasm theory confirmed by the purposes of the bronchial muscle in health ..."

4. The Novelist's Magazine (1786)
"Did not you intend that this company 1 mould believe that you had enjoyed ' this virtuous lady, and to contaminate ' her character? ..."

5. Conservation by Sanitation: Air and Water Supply; Disposal of Waste by Ellen Henrietta Richards (1911)
"... TO contaminate WATER SUPPLIES Cremation, of garbage, animal waste. Dilution, by soil, by good water. Utilization, land absorption of water and nitrogen. ..."

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