adulteration
AmericanUsage
What does adulteration mean? Adulteration is the act of making something impure or altering its original form by adding materials or elements that aren’t usually part of it, especially inferior ones. It can also refer to a thing that has been altered in such a way, or the state that that thing is in after having been altered. Adulteration is commonly used in the context of food preparation and manufacturing in reference to the contamination of food products with additives that make them impure in some way. There are laws against adulteration, especially when the ingredients added may be harmful to people’s health. Adulteration is the noun form of the verb adulterate, meaning to make something impure by adding inferior materials or elements. Something that has been altered in such a way can be described as adulterated. Example: They’re starting to crack down on the widespread adulteration of milk and dairy products by testing them for additives.
Etymology
Origin of adulteration
1500–10; < Latin adulterātiōn- (stem of adulterātiō ); see adulterate, -ion
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The honour has cast a global spotlight on a fragile cottage industry battling labour shortages, rampant adulteration and dwindling sap supplies.
From Barron's ● Feb. 10, 2026
The pesticide adulteration rate matched that of products from California’s legal market, which mandates screening for 66 pesticides but ignores scores of other compounds The Times found.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 19, 2024
Apimondia - the International Federation of Beekeepers’ Associations - said in a statement that the change was "necessitated by the inability to have honey fully tested for adulteration".
From BBC ● Nov. 30, 2024
"When placed in the sensor, adulterated honey shifts the sensor's resonance frequency. By measuring this shift, we can detect water adulteration in honey."
From Science Daily ● Oct. 10, 2023
With regard to adulterations of food, the only form of such adulteration found in this country, which has any special interest from the sanitary point of view, pertains to milk.
From A System of Practical Medicine by American Authors, Vol. I Volume 1: Pathology and General Diseases by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
