Link Centre Dictionary

contaminate

con·ta·mi·nate

UK/kənˈtæmɪneɪt/ US/kənˈtæmɪneɪt/ uncommon obsolete

verb

1.

make impure

  • “The industrial wastes polluted the lake”
Synonyms
2.

make radioactive by adding radioactive material

  • “Don”
  • “s contaminated”
Antonyms

Origin

First attested in the early 15ᵗʰ century, in Middle English; from Middle English contaminaten (“to defile; to infect with desease”), from contaminat(e) (“sullied, defiled; infected with desease”, also used as the past participle of contaminaten) + -en (verb-forming suffix), from Latin contāminātus, the perfect passive participle of contāminō (“to touch together, blend, mingle, corrupt, defile”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), which see for further informations. More at taste, tax, and taxi.

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.