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adulterate

adul·ter·ate/əˈdʌltəɹət/obsolete

adulterate is spelled A-D-U-L-T-E-R-A-T-E: 10 letters and 3 syllables (adul·ter·ate). It appears about once in every 22 million words in written English, the 143,405th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, adulterate means “Corrupted or made impure by being mixed with something else; adulterated” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in adulterate?

Letters10: A-D-U-L-T-E-R-A-T-E
Syllables3: adul·ter·ate
In writingabout once in every 22 million words; the 143,405th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is adulterate?

Adulterate appears about once in every 22 million words in written English, the 143,405th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce adulterate?

  • UK /əˈdʌltəɹət/
  • US /əˈdʌltəɹət/
  • US [-ˈdəl-]

As a verb (“To corrupt, to debase (someone or something)”): /əˈdʌltəɹeɪt/, [-ˈdɒl-], /əˈdʌltəˌɹeɪt/.

Adulterate has 3 syllables, split adul·ter·ate in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-adulterate.wav, En-us-adulterate.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of adulterate

  • more adulterate comparative
  • most adulterate superlative
  • adulterates present, singular, he/she/it
  • adulterating participle, present
  • adulterated participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does adulterate mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    archaicCorrupted or made impure by being mixed with something else; adulterated.

  2. 2

    archaicTending to commit adultery; relating to or being the product of adultery; adulterous.

verb

  1. 1

    archaicTo corrupt, to debase (someone or something).

  2. 2

    archaicTo make less valuable or spoil (something) by adding impurities or other substances.

    to adulterate coins, drugs, food and drink, etc.

  3. 3

    archaicTo commit adultery with (someone).

  4. 4

    archaicTo defile (someone) by adultery.

  5. 5

    archaicTo commit adultery.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Adulterate in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Germanverfälschen, verderben, verunreinigen, verschlechtern, panschen, abwandeln (corrupt, debase – see also corrupt, debase)
Portugueseadulterar (corrupt, debase – see also corrupt, debase)
Spanishadulterar (corrupt, debase – see also corrupt, debase), cometer adulterio con ((transitive) commit adultery with (someone)), cometer adulterio ((intransitive) commit adultery)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does adulterate come from?

From Latin adulterātus (“adulterate, adulterated, defiled, polluted, counterfeited”), perfect passive participle of adulterō (“to adulterate, defile, commit adultery (with), counterfeit”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from ad- (“to, in the direction of”) + alter (“other”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix), literally “to go after someone else”. Equivalent to adultery + -ate.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after adulterate