1.
[syn: pollute, foul, contaminate]
2. make radioactive by adding radioactive material;
- Example: "Don't drink the water--it's contaminated"
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Contaminate \Con*tam"i*nate\ (-n[asl]t), a.
Contaminated; defiled; polluted; tainted. "Contaminate
drink." --Daniel.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Contaminate \Con*tam"i*nate\ (k[o^]n*t[a^]m"[i^]*n[=a]t), v. t.
[imp. & p. p. Contaminated; p. pr. & vb. n.
Contaminating.] [L. contaminatus, p. p. of contaminare to
bring into contact, to contaminate, fr. contamen contagion,
for contagmen; con- + root of tangere to touch. See
Contact.]
To soil, stain, or corrupt by contact; to tarnish; to sully;
to taint; to pollute; to defile.
[1913 Webster]
Shall we now
Contaminate our figures with base bribes? --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
I would neither have simplicity imposed upon, nor
virtue contaminated. --Goldsmith.
Syn: To pollute; defile; sully; taint; tarnish; soil; stain;
corrupt.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
contaminate
v 1: make impure; "The industrial wastes polluted the lake"
[syn: pollute, foul, contaminate]
2: make radioactive by adding radioactive material; "Don't drink
the water--it's contaminated" [ant: decontaminate]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
66 Moby Thesaurus words for "contaminate":
activate, adulterate, alloy, bastardize, befoul, benasty, canker,
charge, cheapen, coarsen, confound, corrupt, cut, debase, debauch,
defile, deflower, degenerate, degrade, denaturalize, denature,
deprave, desecrate, despoil, devalue, dilute, dirty, disease,
distort, doctor, doctor up, fortify, foul, harm, infect, injure,
irradiate, lace, mess, mess up, misuse, nasty, pervert, poison,
pollute, prostitute, radiumize, ravage, ravish, rot, soil, spike,
spoil, stain, sully, taint, tamper with, tarnish, twist, ulcerate,
violate, vitiate, vulgarize, warp, water, water down