vitiate
/ˈvɪʃ.i.eɪt/
"vitiate" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“vitiate” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To spoil, make faulty; to reduce the value, quality, or effectiveness of something.
Corpus desk
Index EN-vitiate · vitiate · English
vitiate · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "V" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | vitiate |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈvɪʃ.i.eɪt/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “vitiate” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
vitiate is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed /ˈvɪʃ.i.eɪt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for vitiate, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: PIE word *dwóh₁ From Latin vitiātus, the perfect passive participle of vitiō (“damage, spoil”), from vitium (“vice”). The correct English form is vitiate, spelled V-I-T-I-A-T-E.
Definition
- 1To spoil, make faulty; to reduce the value, quality, or effectiveness of something.
- 2To debase or morally corrupt.
- 3To violate, to rape.
- 4To make something ineffective, to invalidate.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how vitiate appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The least admixture of a lie, -- for example, the taint of vanity, the least attempt to make a good impression, a favorable appearance, -- will instantly vitiate the effect.
Such diversion as Podson could extort from his isolation was soon vitiated by repetition. He surfed. He sun-baked - with discretion till his skin had peeled and given him a harder cuticle.
Etymology
PIE word *dwóh₁ From Latin vitiātus, the perfect passive participle of vitiō (“damage, spoil”), from vitium (“vice”).
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
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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.