contaminate

con·tam·i·nate

Use contaminate in a sentence

verb

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.

Link/Cite

Link to this page

Cite this page

MLA Style

"contaminate." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 19 February 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Contaminate>.

APA Style

contaminate. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Contaminate

contaminate

transitive verb

-·nat·ed, -·nat·ing

to make impure, infected, corrupt, radioactive, etc. by contact with something or by the addition of something; pollute; defile; sully; taint

Origin of contaminate

Middle English contaminaten from Classical Latin contaminatus, past participle of contaminare, to defile from contamen, contact, contagion from com-, together + base of tangere, to touch: see tact

Link/Cite

Link to this page

Cite this page

MLA Style

"contaminate." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 19 February 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Contaminate>.

APA Style

contaminate. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Contaminate

contaminate

transitive verb

con·tam·i·nat·ed, con·tam·i·nat·ing, con·tam·i·nates

To make impure or unclean by contact or mixture.
To expose to or permeate with radioactivity.
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.

noun

One that contaminates; a contaminant.

Origin of contaminate

Middle English contaminaten from Latin contāmināre contāmināt-; see tag- in Indo-European roots.

Related Forms:

con·tam′i·na′tive
adjective

con·tam′i·na′tor
noun

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Link/Cite

Link to this page

Cite this page

MLA Style

"contaminate." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 19 February 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Contaminate>.

APA Style

contaminate. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Contaminate

contaminate

contaminate befoul foul poison pollute taint

These verbs mean to make dirty or impure: Pesticides contaminated the lake. Mud befouled my shoes. Noxious fumes fouled the air. Drugs poisoned her mind. Exhaust polluted the air. Improper storage tainted the food.

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Link/Cite

Link to this page

Cite this page

MLA Style

"contaminate." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 19 February 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Contaminate>.

APA Style

contaminate. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Contaminate

Verb

(third-person singular simple present contaminates, present participle contaminating, simple past and past participle contaminated)

To introduce impurities or foreign matter to.
Do not contaminate the peanut butter with the jelly.
This water is contaminated. It isn't safe to drink.
To soil or corrupt by contact; to tarnish; to pollute.

Related terms

Origin

From Old French contaminer, from Latin contaminare (“to touch together, blend, mingle, corrupt, defile”), from contamen (“contact, defilement, contagion”), related to tangere.

English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.