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
Lauren Leffer, Popular Science, 1 May 2025
Acid Red 18 is not allowed, so the product is considered adulterated.
—Thomas G. Moukawsher, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 Apr. 2025
Of course, a lot of us have the natural instinct to drink cask strength whiskey neat, as if adding water is needlessly adulterating the spirit, or worse yet, a sign of wimpiness.
—Tony Sachs, Forbes, 3 Jan. 2025
The policy represents a major shift in the U.S. after years of successful lobbying by the pharmaceutical industry, which said imports would expose U.S. patients to risks of counterfeit or adulterated drugs.
—Matthew Perrone, San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 Jan. 2024
See All Example Sentences for adulterate
Verb
Ground coffee was often about 80 to 90 percent adulterated in the mid-19th century, says Blum.
—Lauren Leffer, Popular Science, 1 May 2025
Acid Red 18 is not allowed, so the product is considered adulterated.
—Thomas G. Moukawsher, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 Apr. 2025
Of course, a lot of us have the natural instinct to drink cask strength whiskey neat, as if adding water is needlessly adulterating the spirit, or worse yet, a sign of wimpiness.
—Tony Sachs, Forbes, 3 Jan. 2025
The policy represents a major shift in the U.S. after years of successful lobbying by the pharmaceutical industry, which said imports would expose U.S. patients to risks of counterfeit or adulterated drugs.
—Matthew Perrone, San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 Jan. 2024
See All Example Sentences for adulterate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for adulterate
Adjective
-
Vinegar, which is really dilute acetic acid, will help the milk curdle by further denaturing the whey proteins and neutralizing negative charges at the surface of casein micelles.—
Liz Roth-Johnson,
Discover Magazine,
12 Feb. 2013
-
However toxic a substance may be, the amount of exposure received by the general population is very dilute.—
George Johnson,
Discover Magazine,
8 July 2013
Adjective
-
The supernatural thriller sees a woman return from death as a vindictive spirit to torment her adulterous husband.—
Andreas Wiseman,
Deadline,
26 June 2025
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But with a twist so big — Sarah being the killer of her adulterous husband Adam’s mistress, Kelly Summers, and the one who set him up for the murder while simultaneously defending him tooth and nail in court — where was Rose to go after that?—
Jennifer Maas,
Variety,
29 Apr. 2025
Verb
-
Beware of anyone telling you coal or gas is the answer to high energy bills, especially when their profit margins are tied to these polluting fossil fuels.—
Emily Scarr,
Baltimore Sun,
29 June 2025
-
Adam is showing how even language, the medium of the novel, can be polluted, corrupted, and transformed into a means of exploitation.—
Robert Rubsam,
The Atlantic,
21 June 2025
Adjective
-
In one particularly jarring example, under threat of being unplugged, Anthropic’s latest creation Claude 4 lashed back by blackmailing an engineer and threatened to reveal an extramarital affair.—
Thomas Urbain,
Fortune,
29 June 2025
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Later, his public image was of a contented husband, but his extramarital affairs have been the subject of recent media attention.—
Kirsty McHugh,
Literary Hub,
20 June 2025
Adjective
-
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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Leadership roles and extracurricular activities have prepared Poway High School Salutatorian Michael Markoff to tackle the challenges of studying medicine at UCLA this fall.—
Julie Gallant,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
24 June 2025
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In Crosby-Ironton, voters may be asked to pay an additional $1.5 million per year or risk a four-day school week and the end of many extracurricular activities, according to the Star Tribune.—
Suzanne Blake,
MSNBC Newsweek,
18 June 2025
Adjective
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The net loss for the first quarter ended May 1 was $8.3 million, or 27 cents per diluted share, which was better than expected.—
David Moin,
Footwear News,
5 June 2025
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The company reported a net loss of $483 million, equivalent to $1 per diluted share.—
Trefis Team,
Forbes.com,
2 June 2025
Adjective
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Since 1995, $2.9 billion in federal funds have produced public and private investments totaling $42 billion for cleaning and redeveloping contaminated sites, and created more than 200,000 jobs.—
Janet McCabe,
The Conversation,
27 June 2025
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Beyond creating toxins that can directly kill animals, or harm humans that eat contaminated animals, people may suffer skin irritation and respiratory problems from contact with some of these microorganisms.—
Suwanna Gauntlett Upjohn,
Forbes.com,
25 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Adulterate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/adulterate. Accessed 9 Jul. 2025.
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