different between contaminate vs blight

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?n?tæm?ne?t/

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To make something dangerous or toxic by introducing impurities or foreign matter.

2. (transitive) To soil, stain, corrupt, or infect by contact or association.
   • I would neither have simplicity imposed upon, nor virtue contaminated.
3. (transitive) To make unfit for use by the introduction of unwholesome or undesirable elements.

4. To infect, often with bad objects

Related terms

• contaminable
• contamination
• contaminative

Translations

Further reading

• contaminate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• contaminate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• contaminate at OneLook Dictionary Search

Italian

Verb

contaminate

1. second-person plural present of contaminare
2. second-person plural imperative of contaminare
3. feminine plural past participle of contaminare

Latin

Verb

cont?min?te

1. second-person plural present active imperative of cont?min?

English

Etymology

Uncertain, however given that it was used at one point to refer to inflammation of the skin , quite possibly from Middle English *bleighte, *ble?te, from Old English bl?cþa (“leprosy”) (related to Old English bl??o (“paleness, leprosy”) and bl??e (“an itching skin-disease”)); or from Old Norse blikna (“to grow pallid”). Related to bleak.

Pronunciation

• enPR: bl?t, IPA^(key): /bla?t/
• Rhymes: -a?t
• Homophone: blite

Noun

blight (countable and uncountable, plural blights)

1. (phytopathology) A rapid and complete chlorosis, browning, then death of plant tissues such as leaves, branches, twigs, or floral organs.
2. The bacterium, virus or fungus that causes such a condition.
3. (by extension) Anything that impedes growth or development or spoils any other aspect of life.

Derived terms

• blighten

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

blight (third-person singular simple present blights, present participle blighting, simple past and past participle blighted)

1. (transitive) To affect with blight; to blast; to prevent the growth and fertility of.
   • 1695, John Woodward, An Essay toward a Natural History of the Earth and Terrestrial Bodies, especially Minerals, &c

     [This vapour] blasts vegetables, blights corn and fruit, and is sometimes injurious even to Men.

2. (intransitive) To suffer blight.

3. (transitive) To spoil, ruin, or destroy (something).
   • 1814, Lord Byron, The Corsair

     that lone and blighted bosom sears

Derived terms

Translations

References