vitiate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
vitiates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
vitiated,
past participle, past
-
vitiating
present participle
-
to impair the quality of; make faulty; spoil.
-
to impair or weaken the effectiveness of.
-
to make legally defective or invalid; invalidate.
to vitiate a claim.
verb
-
to make faulty or imperfect
-
to debase, pervert, or corrupt
-
to destroy the force or legal effect of (a deed, etc)
to vitiate a contract
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
nonvitiationnoun
-
vitiationnoun
-
vitiatornoun
-
unvitiatedadjective
-
unvitiatingadjective
-
vitiableadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
vitiatesimple
-
vitiatessimple
-
have vitiatedperfect
-
has vitiatedperfect
-
am vitiatingprogressive
-
are vitiatingprogressive
-
is vitiatingprogressive
-
have been vitiatingperfect progressive
-
has been vitiatingperfect progressive
Past
-
vitiatedsimple
-
had vitiatedperfect
-
was vitiatingprogressive
-
were vitiatingprogressive
-
had been vitiatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of vitiate
First recorded in 1525–35; from Latin vitiātus, past participle of vitiāre “to spoil, impair,” derivative of vitium “blemish, defect, fault” + -ātus; see vice 1, -ate 1
Explanation
As some sneaky five-year-olds know, crossing one’s fingers while making a promise is an effective way to vitiate, or destroy the validity of, an agreement. Vitiate is often used when a legal agreement is made invalid, but it can also refer to the debasement or corruption of something or someone. If a malicious five-year-old on the playground teaches the other children to lie with their fingers crossed, she would be responsible for vitiating the playground community. The first syllable of this word is pronounced "vish," like the first syllable in vicious.
Vocabulary lists containing vitiate
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
100 SAT Words Beginning with "V"
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
On the Origin of Species
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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.
See Examples For:
She accused Mr Zubair of "peddling a fake-narrative to vitiate the atmosphere, cause communal disharmony & cause communal & targeted hatred against me & my family".
From BBC ● Jun. 7, 2022
“I see these events as a disturbing pattern which will lead, eventually, to injustice and further vitiate the atmosphere prevailing in some parts of the country and stoke fires and retaliation,” Mr. Lokur said.
From New York Times ● May 11, 2022
The rule recognized that new technologies cannot be employed to vitiate the right to be secure promised by the Fourth Amendment.
From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2021
“We don’t tell Metro they have to vitiate existing labor contracts,” or weaken pension guarantees or limit overtime, as Comstock’s bill does, he said.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 30, 2018
The fastidious delicacy of the writers of modern latinity could not endure to vitiate their classical purity by the Gothic names of their heroes, and of the barbarous localities where memorable transactions had occurred.
From Amenities of Literature Consisting of Sketches and Characters of English Literature by Isaac Disraeli
If that evidence shows that someone else inflicted the wounds—if it casts doubt on whether Gutierrez caused, intended, or anticipated Harrison’s death—it vitiates the findings that made him eligible for the death penalty.
From Slate ● Jun. 26, 2025
Mr. Daley said the warning that plays at the beginning of these inmate calls constitutes “a voluntary waiver that vitiates privilege” for anyone on the call.
From New York Times ● May 22, 2018
Publishing in Cogent doesn’t merely muddy the waters on their point against gender studies, it completely vitiates it.
From Salon ● May 22, 2017
This stands in stark contrast to the unrelenting practice of broken windows policing, which places enormous pressures on police officers to cast wide nets of summonses and arrests and vitiates their professional capacities.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 29, 2015
Nothing conduces more to disease than a filthy kennel, nothing vitiates a dog's nose more than fœtid smells.
From The Dog by Dinks
And, especially relevant to Edelman in this case: Is it vitiated by bad motives?
From New York Times ● Jun. 26, 2023
“In such a vitiated atmosphere, it’s impossible for me to see Dil Bechara in isolation and gauge it on its own merits,” she wrote in the Film Companion, an online movie magazine.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 25, 2020
The prosecution's case was that the woman's consent was vitiated by Lawrance's deception.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2020
“ICMR’s intentions may be good but the processes have been vitiated and the risk is it can derail the vaccine,” he says.
From Science Magazine ● Jul. 6, 2020
The belief that sacraments were vitiated in sinful hands gave rise to considerable anxiety, and to guard against it the Consolamentum was generally repeated a second and a third time.
From A History of The Inquisition of The Middle Ages; volume I by Henry Charles Lea
PBS SoCal does not value its own programs by vitiating the viewer’s experience.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2022
But a large Jeff Koons piece is droning nearby, vitiating thought with its generic monotone of irony.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 13, 2015
Americans want to be protected, but not at the cost of vitiating the values that make us Americans.
From New York Times ● Jun. 8, 2013
Pakistan summoned Afghanistan's chargé d'affaires on Thursday to protest "an unprovoked firing incident" that is "vitiating the friendly relations and creating avoidable tension between the two brotherly countries," the Pakistani foreign ministry said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 2, 2013
Nothing is more vital to a worker than rest—yet nothing is so vitiating to the shirker.
From The Art of Public Speaking by Dale Carnagey
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.
