Contaminate definition
To make impure or unclean by contact or mixture.
verb
To expose to or permeate with radioactivity.
verb
(linguistics) To influence the semantic properties or phonological form of (a word or phrase); blend with.
The Middle English word femelle was contaminated by the word male, resulting in the modern form female.
verb
One that contaminates; a contaminant.
noun
The definition of contaminate is to infect, corrupt or make impure.
An example of contaminate is to accidentally place raw chicken on the counter and not clean it up.
verb
Advertisement
To make impure, infected, corrupt, radioactive, etc. by contact with something or by the addition of something; pollute; defile; sully; taint.
verb
Do not contaminate the peanut butter with the jelly.
This water is contaminated. It isn't safe to drink.
verb
Origin of contaminate
- Middle English contaminaten from Latin contāmināre contāmināt- tag- in Indo-European roots
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
- From Old French contaminer, from Latin contaminare (“to touch together, blend, mingle, corrupt, defile”), from contamen (“contact, defilement, contagion”), related to tangere.
From Wiktionary