different between contamination vs contaminate

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?n?tæm??ne???n/
• Rhymes: -e???n

Noun

contamination (countable and uncountable, plural contaminations)

1. The act or process of contaminating

   Synonyms: pollution, defilement, taint

2. Something which contaminates.
3. (linguistics) A process whereby words with related meanings come to have similar sounds.
4. (linguistics, etymology) The influence of one form (often from a foreign language) on the historical development of another form to which it may be related in meaning.
5. The process of making a material or surface unclean or unsuited for its intended purpose, usually by the addition or attachment of undesirable foreign substances.

Translations

French

Etymology

From Latin cont?min?ti?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??.ta.mi.na.sj??/

Noun

contamination f (plural contaminations)

1. contamination (act or process of contaminating)

Related terms

• contaminer

Further reading

• “contamination” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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?