different between adulterate vs pollute

English

Etymology

From Latin adulter?tus (“(adjective) adulterated; of mixed descent; (verb) adulterated, corrupted, defiled, polluted; committed adultery with; (figuratively) counterfeited, falsified”) + English -ate (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘having the specified thing’, and verbs with the sense ‘acting in the specified manner’). Adulter?tus is the perfect passive participle of adulter? (“to adulterate, corrupt, defile, pollute; to commit adultery with; (figuratively) to counterfeit, falsify”) + -?tus (suffix forming adjectives indicating the possession of a thing or a quality, from nouns); adulter? is derived from ad- (prefix intensifying the action of verbs) + alter? (“to alter, change”) (from alter (“the other”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h?el- (“beyond; other”) + *-teros (suffix forming contrastive or oppositional adjectives)) + -? (suffix forming first-conjugation verbs).

Pronunciation

• Adjective:
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??d?lt???t/
• • (General American) IPA^(key): /??d?lt?r?t/, [-?d?l-]
• Verb:
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??d?lt??e?t/
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /??d?lt???e?t/, [-?d?l-]
• Hyphenation: adul?ter?ate

Adjective

adulterate (comparative more adulterate, superlative most adulterate) (archaic, literary)

1. Corrupted or made impure by being mixed with something else; adulterated. [common in the 16th and 17th c.]
2. Tending to commit adultery; relating to or being the product of adultery; adulterous. [common in the 16th and 17th c.]

Derived terms

• adulterateness

Translations

Verb

adulterate (third-person singular simple present adulterates, present participle adulterating, simple past and past participle adulterated)

1. (transitive) To corrupt, to debase (someone or something).
2. (transitive) To make less valuable or spoil (something) by adding impurities or other substances.

   Synonyms: (obsolete) adulter, debase
3. (transitive, archaic) To commit adultery with (someone).

   Synonym: (obsolete) adulter

4. (transitive, archaic) To defile (someone) by adultery.
5. (intransitive, also figuratively, archaic) To commit adultery.

Conjugation

Related terms

Translations

References

Further reading

• adulterant on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “adulterate”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Italian

Verb

adulterate

1. second-person plural present indicative of adulterare
2. second-person plural imperative of adulterare
3. feminine plural of adulterato

Latin

Verb

adulter?te

1. second-person plural present active imperative of adulter?

English

Etymology

From Middle English polluten, from Latin poll?tum, from poll?tus (“no longer virgin", "unchaste”), perfect passive participle of pollu? (“soil", "defile", "dishonor”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p??lu?t/, /p??lju?t/
• Rhymes: -u?t

Verb

pollute (third-person singular simple present pollutes, present participle polluting, simple past and past participle polluted)

1. (transitive) To make something harmful, especially by the addition of some unwanted product.

2. (transitive) To make something or somewhere less suitable for some activity, especially by the introduction of some unnatural factor.

3. (dated) To corrupt or profane
   • 1952, Bible (Revised Standard Version, Revelation 21:8

     But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, as for murderers, fornicators, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their lot shall be in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur, which is the second death.

4. To violate sexually; to debauch; to dishonour.

Derived terms

• polluter
• self-pollute

Related terms

• pollutant
• pollution

Translations

Adjective

pollute (comparative more pollute, superlative most pollute)

1. (rare) Polluted; defiled.

Translations

References

• pollute in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Latin

Participle

poll?te

1. vocative masculine singular of poll?tus

Middle English

Verb

pollute

1. Alternative form of polluten