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Glite Dictionary
vitiation

vitiation

9.9
Making a contract or agreement not valid in law
  • noun
  • /ˌvɪʃiˈeɪʃən/
  • Formal
translation icon : viciación
  • They discovered a vitiation in the legal document that would render it void.

Examples

  • Furthermore, he explicitly notes that one and the same action can be a violation of justice and a vitiation of another virtue, depending on the perspective from which it is analyzed.

    Academic text (2009)

  • The vitiation of the contract made it impossible to enforce the agreement in court.

  • The lawyer argued that the vitiation of the original terms undermined the entire deal.

Synonyms

nullification
vsvitiation
  • Formal
6 8.6

Making a law, decision, or agreement have no legal effect

is broader, also covering partial impairment rather than only full annulment
evisceration
vsvitiation
  • Formal
1 9.2

Weakening a law or idea by taking away its main power

focuses on legal validity loss rather than metaphorical weakening or alteration
invalidation
vsvitiation
  • Formal
1 7.3

Official ending that makes a legal document or decision no longer accepted by law

focuses on formal ending while the key covers any legal weakening or destruction
annulation
vsvitiation
  • Formal
9.8

The act of making a legal agreement not valid

is similar but the key can mean less than full formal cancellation

Antonyms

validation
  • Specialized
75 4.3

An act of checking that something is true, correct, or acceptable

ratification
  • Formal
23 7.0

Official approval of an agreement, usually by a vote

How Invalid

annulment
  • Formal
24 6.5
nullification
  • Formal
6 8.6
vitiation
  • Formal
9.9
flaw
131 3.0
defect
150 3.4

Surface Forms

vitiation singular
vitiations plural

Morphology

vitiation = vitiate (transparent) = vitiate + ion

Standard nominalization of the verb 'vitiate' by the suffix '-ion' yields 'the act or process of impairing', so the derived meaning directly follows from the base verb.

Etymology

Vitiation comes from the Latin vitium, which means 'fault' or 'blemish'. So vitiation is the 'spoiling' or damage that makes something, like a contract, invalid or legally weak, and it shares the same root as the English word vice, which means a 'moral fault'.