1
as in dilute
containing foreign or lower-grade substances
the pharmacist was convicted of selling adulterate drugs in order to maximize profits
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in adulterous
relating to or being a sexual encounter or relationship between a married person and someone other than their spouse
caught red-handed in what he claimed was his first adulterate encounter
Synonyms & Similar Words
as in to dilute
to alter (something) for the worse with the addition of foreign or lower-grade substances
the company was fined for adulterating its "all beef" frankfurters with cereal
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of adulterate
Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA Today, 6 Nov. 2025
Real Madrid chief Florentino Perez was dead against the idea, with his club arguing that breaking the traditional home and away format adulterated the competition, while also expressing concern over participating teams gaining a financial advantage.
—Dermot Corrigan, New York Times, 25 Oct. 2025
Regulation made highly pure spirits a sustainable reality: whiskey often sold straight from the barrel was adulterated by unscrupulous merchants with cheap spirits or toxic substances.
—Jahan Marcu, Rolling Stone, 23 Oct. 2025
Food and/or ice adulterated or contaminated.
—Gege Reed, Louisville Courier Journal, 3 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for adulterate
Verb
Fruits, leafy greens and other produce can become adulterated with listeria through fecal contamination, which can occur through wastewater, water in the growing area, fertilizer and the proximity of said growing area to livestock, USA TODAY previously reported.
—Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA Today, 6 Nov. 2025
Real Madrid chief Florentino Perez was dead against the idea, with his club arguing that breaking the traditional home and away format adulterated the competition, while also expressing concern over participating teams gaining a financial advantage.
—Dermot Corrigan, New York Times, 25 Oct. 2025
Regulation made highly pure spirits a sustainable reality: whiskey often sold straight from the barrel was adulterated by unscrupulous merchants with cheap spirits or toxic substances.
—Jahan Marcu, Rolling Stone, 23 Oct. 2025
Food and/or ice adulterated or contaminated.
—Gege Reed, Louisville Courier Journal, 3 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for adulterate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for adulterate
Adjective
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Second, a dilute hydrochloric acid is used to dissolve the remaining lithium and the transition metals—nickel, cobalt, and manganese.—
Aman Tripathi,
Interesting Engineering,
12 Oct. 2025
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For example, Wilson’s team is exploring whether dilute acids speed up weathering.—
Robert F. Service,
Science | AAAS,
3 Sep. 2020
Adjective
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But the gamesmanship, foreshadowing the adulterous antics of Harold Pinter’s plays, escalates perilously.—
Theater Critic,
Los Angeles Times,
25 Feb. 2026
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Last week, as Wasserman’s seemingly adulterous 2003 correspondence with the convicted and incarcerated Maxwell came out, IOC president Kirsty Coventry dismissed the Epstein information about Wasserman as no big deal.—
Dominic Patten,
Deadline,
9 Feb. 2026
Verb
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California’s standards have spurred important technological innovations for vehicles, including new types of less-polluting gasoline and vehicles that emit no pollution at all.—
Ann E. Carlson,
The Conversation,
31 Mar. 2026
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Vermont became the first state to enact a climate superfund law, modeled on the federal superfund law that taxed petroleum and chemical companies to pay to clean up sites polluted by toxic waste.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
30 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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State officials issued islandwide brown water advisories for Oahu and Maui after storms sent polluted runoff into coastal waters.—
Kathleen Wong,
USA Today,
1 Apr. 2026
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The South Asian nation ranked the world’s most polluted country in 2025, according to the report.—
Esha Mitra,
CNN Money,
1 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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But Mullin will simultaneously be putting out fires that senior officials say were set by Noem and Lewandowski, a special government employee who is reported to have engaged in an extramarital affair with Noem since 2019.—
Anna Giaritelli,
The Washington Examiner,
27 Mar. 2026
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The TikTok account trombonechef began posting videos about a strawberry and her extramarital affair with her eggplant boss.—
Saba Hamedy,
NBC news,
24 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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The company in 2020 pleaded guilty to distributing adulterated ice-cream products and agreed to pay a fine over the outbreak.—
Dylan Tokar,
WSJ,
2 Feb. 2023
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And while most of those overdoses involved the illicit synthetic opioid fentanyl, experts say that an adulterated and contaminated drug supply is also leading to deaths.—
Nadia Kounang,
CNN,
17 Mar. 2022
Adjective
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Scholarships are awarded based on academic achievement, career commitment, extracurricular involvement and financial need, a club news release said.—
Michelle Mullins,
Chicago Tribune,
25 Mar. 2026
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Oseguera told the Independent Journal that PTA funding is used to provide supplemental classroom materials for teachers as well as support field trips, music and art programs, student promotion ceremonies, student club activities and extracurricular opportunities.—
Cameron Macdonald,
Mercury News,
21 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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In total, Microsoft has invested $13 billion in OpenAI and, at the time of the AI company’s restructuring in October, disclosed that its 27% diluted stake in the for-profit part of the organization was valued at $135 billion.—
Lora Kolodny,Ashley Capoot,
CNBC,
23 Mar. 2026
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To prolong their lifespan, plastic cutting boards can be put in the dishwasher for cleaning; wooden ones can be cleaned with a diluted bleach solution or disinfectant.—
The Washington Post,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
21 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Adulterate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/adulterate. Accessed 3 Apr. 2026.
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