vitiate

[vish-ee-eyt]

See more synonyms for vitiate on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object), vi·ti·at·ed, vi·ti·at·ing.

to impair the quality of; make faulty; spoil.
to impair or weaken the effectiveness of.
to debase; corrupt; pervert.

to make legally defective or invalid; invalidate: to vitiate a claim.

Origin of vitiate

1525–35; < Latin vitiātus, past participle of vitiāre to spoil, derivative of vitium blemish, vice¹ + -ātus -ate¹

Related formsvi·ti·a·tion, nounvi·ti·a·tor, nounnon·vi·ti·a·tion, nounun·vi·ti·at·ed, adjectiveun·vi·ti·at·ing, adjective

Can be confusedameliorate obviate vitiate

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for vitiate

negate, quash, annihilate, sully, defile, pervert, debase, invalidate, deny, annul, revoke, undo, abolish, nullify, abate, abrogate, recant, undermine, delete, harm

Examples from the Web for vitiate

Contemporary Examples of vitiate

The result will be provisions that are watered down or loopholes that vitiate key provisions altogether.
Health Care Strangles Bank Reform!
Jeffrey E. Garten
April 10, 2010

Historical Examples of vitiate

These notions are at least possible, and would they not vitiate your argument?
More Letters of Charles Darwin Volume II
Charles Darwin
Minshew interprets the verb deboshe, "to corrupt, make lewde, vitiate."
Microcosmography
John Earle
Small-pox does not vitiate the blood of a people; this disease does.
Searchlights on Health: Light on Dark Corners
B.G. Jefferis
Above all, do not, by dint of judging, vitiate your faculty of tasting.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 17, No. 102, April, 1866
Various
This, however, did not vitiate the titles of these companies to said lands.
Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society, Volume 2 (of 14), 1899
Various

British Dictionary definitions for vitiate

vitiate

verb (tr)

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

Derived Formsvitiable, adjectivevitiation, nounvitiator, noun

Word Origin for vitiate

C16: from Latin vitiāre to injure, from vitium a fault

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for vitiate

1530s, from Latin vitiatus, past participle of vitiare "to make faulty, injure, spoil, corrupt," from vitium "fault, defect, blemish, crime, vice" (see vice (n.1)). Related: Vitiated; vitiating.