1
as in dilute
containing foreign or lower-grade substances
the pharmacist was convicted of selling adulterate drugs in order to maximize profits
Synonyms & Similar Words
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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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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of adulterate
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
Food and/or ice adulterated or contaminated (discarded).
—Gege Reed, The Courier-Journal, 2 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for adulterate
Verb
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
Food and/or ice adulterated or contaminated (discarded).
—Gege Reed, The Courier-Journal, 2 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for adulterate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for adulterate
Adjective
-
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
-
For example, Wilson’s team is exploring whether dilute acids speed up weathering.—
Robert F. Service,
Science | AAAS,
3 Sep. 2020
Adjective
-
The unapologetically lurid tale of two families locked in an ever-complex cat’s cradle of class resentments and adulterous power plays also swarms with queen bees and jaw-droppingly muscular men that feel straight out of the Real Housewives playbook.—
Bloomberg,
Mercury News,
22 Jan. 2026
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As with the true story of the adulterous writers, there’s something at the center of The Disappear that feels cringily solipsistic.—
Sara Holdren,
Vulture,
19 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
Public spaces are routinely polluted by blaring music packed with profanity and racial slurs, and no one thinks twice about it.—
Mike Bianchi,
The Orlando Sentinel,
31 Jan. 2026
-
Due to these conditions, the region is highly reliant on expensive and polluting diesel fuel transported by truck, plane, or barge.—
Chris Young,
Interesting Engineering,
29 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
The grants are expected to help clean up 75 acres of polluted lands and create 1,500 housing units, in addition to new school spaces and commercial areas.—
Frederick Melo,
Twin Cities,
27 Jan. 2026
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As to the environment, white phosphorus destroyed fruit, vegetable and olive harvests, burned agricultural lands and left them polluted.—
Josiane Yazbeck,
The Conversation,
22 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Banfield was having an extramarital affair with the au pair at the time, prosecutors say.—
Lauren del Valle,
CNN Money,
23 Jan. 2026
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The couple embarked on an extramarital affair before eventually divorcing their respective spouses and marrying in 2006.—
Christine Pelisek,
PEOPLE,
10 Jan. 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
-
Large studies involving multiple colleges indicate that the quality and variety of extracurricular involvement are better predictors of college enrollment and success than simply counting the total number of activities.—
Sarah Hernholm,
Forbes.com,
29 Jan. 2026
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Cobb County warned that violations of the student Code of Conduct, including skipping class or leaving authorized areas, could lead to disciplinary action, including out-of-school suspension and the loss of parking, sports, or extracurricular privileges.—
Christopher Harris,
CBS News,
28 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
If the door seal is moldy, clean it well with diluted chlorine bleach and a sponge before running the cleaning cycle.—
Mary Marlowe Leverette,
Southern Living,
25 Jan. 2026
-
Wait until active new growth restarts—after the cactus has dropped all its flowers—then restart the feeding routine of a balanced, diluted liquid fertilizer and keep it up through spring and summer.—
Nadia Hassani,
The Spruce,
21 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Adulterate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/adulterate. Accessed 4 Feb. 2026.
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