adulteration

noun

"adulteration" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“adulteration” is an uncommon English word, ranked #78,331 in English word frequency and used as a noun.

#78,331
frequency rank, English
12
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The process of adulterating.

Key facts for adulteration
PropertyValue
Headwordadulteration
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters12
Frequency rank#78,331
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “adulteration” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). adulteration lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for adulteration is 12 letters long, classified as a noun. Corpus data places it at rank #78,331 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

adulteration has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle French adulteration and its etymon Latin adulterātĭō. By surface analysis, adulterate + -ion. The correct English form is adulteration, spelled A-D-U-L-T-E-R-A-T-I-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    The process of adulterating.
  2. 2
    The condition of being adulterated.

Etymology

From Middle French adulteration and its etymon Latin adulterātĭō. By surface analysis, adulterate + -ion.

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "adulteration"?
"adulteration" is spelled A-D-U-L-T-E-R-A-T-I-O-N.
What does "adulteration" mean?
As a noun, "adulteration" means: The process of adulterating.
What is the origin of the word "adulteration"?
From Middle French adulteration and its etymon Latin adulterātĭō. By surface analysis, adulterate + -ion. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “adulteration”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is A-D-U-L-T-E-R-A-T-I-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list