vitiate

1 to affect slightly with something morally bad or undesirable believed that luxury vitiates even the most principled person Synonyms blemish, darken, mar, poison, spoil, stain, tarnish, touch, taintRelated Words begrime, besmear, besmirch, blacken, blur, cloud, dirty, discolor, pollute, smear, smirch, smudge, smut, soil, sully, tar; abase, cheapen, debase, degrade, demean, discredit, disgrace, dishonor, foul, lower, shame, sink; bastardize, corrupt, debauch, demoralize, deprave, pervert, subvert; color, distort, twistNear Antonyms cleanse, purify; dignify, elevate, ennoble, enshrine, glorify, hallow, magnify, uplift

2 to reduce the soundness, effectiveness, or perfection of numerous grammatical errors vitiate the effectiveness of your writing Synonyms blemish, bloody, break, compromise, crab, cripple, cross (up), deface, disfigure, endamage, flaw, harm, hurt, impair, injure, mar, spoil, damageRelated Words deteriorate, enervate, enfeeble, undermine, weaken; erode, scour, wash out, wear (away); blight, tarnish; dent, ding, dint; botch, gum (up), queer; lacerate, wound; disable, hamstring, lame, maim, mangle, mutilate, torment, torture; annihilate, bang up, bash, batter, clobber, crush, dash, decimate, demolish, desolate, destroy, devastate, do in, pulverize, raze, ruin, scourge, shatter, smash, tear down, total, waste, wipe out, wreckNear Antonyms cure, heal, help, rectify, rehabilitate, remedy; edit, remodel, revise; ameliorate, better, enhance, enrich, improve, meliorate, perfect, refineAntonyms doctor, fix, mend, patch, rebuild, recondition, reconstruct, renovate, repair, revamp

3 to lower in character, dignity, or quality a penchant for coarse language vitiates what is otherwise a refined literary style Synonyms abase, bastardize, canker, cheapen, corrupt, debauch, degrade, demean, demoralize, deprave, deteriorate, lessen, pervert, poison, profane, prostitute, subvert, debase, warpRelated Words befoul, begrime, contaminate, defile, dilute, dirty, pollute, taint, thin, water down, weaken; descend; disgrace, dishonor, humble, humiliate, shame, take down; blemish, damage, deface, destroy, flaw, harm, hurt, impair, mar, ruin, spoil, stain, tarnish, wreck; depreciate, downgradeNear Antonyms dignify, exalt, honor; ameliorate, amend, better, enhance, enrich, improve, meliorate, perfect; clarify, clean, cleanse, purify, refine, restore; respectAntonyms elevate, ennoble, uplift