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English
Etymology
From the past participle stem of Latin vitiare, from vitium ‘vice’.
Pronunciation
IPA|/'vɪʃɪəɪt/
Transitive verb
rfc-trverb|Transitive verb
en-verb|vitiat|ing
- to spoil, make faulty; to reduce the value, quality, or effectiveness of something
#*1997: ‘Mr Rose,’ says the Physician, ‘this man was brought to us from Russia. Precisely such a case of vitiated judgment as I describe at length in my Treatise on Madness. Mayhap you have read it?’ — Andrew Miller, Ingenious Pain
- to debase or morally corrupt
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archaic to violate, to rape
#*1965: ‘Crush the cockatrice,’ he groaned, from his death-cell. ‘I am dead in law’ – but of the girl he denied that he had ‘attempted to vitiate her at Nine years old’; for ‘upon the word of a dying man, both her Eyes did see, and her Hands did
act in all that was done’. — John Fowles, The Magus
- to make something ineffective, to invalidate
fa:vitiate
fr:vitiate
io:vitiate
te:vitiate
vi:vitiate
zh:vitiate
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