vitiate
Americanverb (used with object)
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to impair the quality of; make faulty; spoil.
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to impair or weaken the effectiveness of.
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to make legally defective or invalid; invalidate.
to vitiate a claim.
verb
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to make faulty or imperfect
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to debase, pervert, or corrupt
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to destroy the force or legal effect of (a deed, etc)
to vitiate a contract
Other Word Forms
- nonvitiation noun
- unvitiated adjective
- unvitiating adjective
- vitiable adjective
- vitiation noun
- vitiator noun
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; vice 1, -ate 1
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.
And, especially relevant to Edelman in this case: Is it vitiated by bad motives?
From New York Times
The seizure supposedly vitiated his argument for ownership, which was: If the cash is not my money, whose is it?
From Washington Post
PBS SoCal does not value its own programs by vitiating the viewer’s experience.
From Los Angeles Times
Giving that up, Professor Bale said, would vitiate the ideological rationale of her government and potentially turn her into a lame-duck leader until the next election, which she will have to call by early 2025.
From New York Times
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
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.
