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adulterated

adulterated

7.4
Less pure because cheaper or wrong ingredients are added
  • adjective
  • /əˈdʌltəˌreɪtɪd/
  • Specialized
translation icon : adulterado
  • The food was adulterated with cheap fillers to increase profits.

Examples

  • She refused to buy the drink because it was adulterated with unhealthy additives.

  • He adulterated it with various impurities in order to stretch out the supply of precious metal.

  • The artist's work was criticized for being adulterated by commercial influences.

Synonyms

impure
vsadulterated
2 4.2

Containing other unwanted substances so it is not clean

specifies mixing that involves adding inferior or improper ingredients
adulterate
vsadulterated
  • Specialized
1 8.2

Not pure because cheaper ingredients were added

is the adjective describing a substance made worse by added low quality ingredients
contaminated
vsadulterated
4.7

Something that becomes unsafe because it touches something dirty or harmful

focuses on added inferior ingredients rather than mere harmful contact
tainted
vsadulterated
4.5

Spoiled and unsafe because it has rot or something harmful

refers to impurity from deliberate addition of inferior ingredients
debased
vsadulterated
7.0

Made worse in quality, value, or moral standards

concerns physical impurity caused by adding inferior ingredients

Antonyms

10 6.7

Pure and not mixed with anything else

How Pure

unadulterated
10 6.7
pure
390 1.0
adulterated
  • Specialized
7.4
tainted
4.5

Surface Forms

adulterated positive

Morphology

adulterated = adulterate (transparent) = adulterate + ed

The adjective is a standard past-participle/adjectival form derived from the verb 'adulterate' by adding -ed; the meaning is directly predictable from the verb.

Etymology

Adulterated comes from Latin parts ad- ('to') and alter ('other'), so it originally meant 'made other' by adding different things. That's why when food is adulterated it has been mixed with cheaper or wrong ingredients and is no longer pure.