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contaminating

   Also found in: Medical, Legal, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia 0.02 sec.
con·tam·i·nate  (kn-tm-nt)
tr.v. con·tam·i·nated, con·tam·i·nat·ing, con·tam·i·nates
1. To make impure or unclean by contact or mixture.
2. To expose to or permeate with radioactivity.
n. (-nt)
One that contaminates; a contaminant.
[Middle English contaminaten, from Latin contminre, contmint-; see tag- in Indo-European roots.]
con·tami·native adj.
con·tami·nator n.
Synonyms: contaminate, befoul, foul, poison, pollute, taint
These verbs mean to make dirty or impure: Pesticides contaminated the lake. Mud befouled my shoes. Noxious fumes fouled the air. Drugs poisoned her mind. Exhaust polluted the air. Improper storage tainted the food.
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Adj.1.contaminating - spreading pollution or contamination; especially radioactive contamination; "the air near the foundry was always dirty"; "a dirty bomb releases enormous amounts of long-lived radioactive fallout"
dirty
2.contaminating - that infects or taints
corrupting
infectious - easily spread; "fear is exceedingly infectious; children catch it from their elders"- Bertrand Russell


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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
If ever we caught an eye exposed it was quickly hidden from our contaminating Christian vision; the beggars actually passed us by without demanding bucksheesh; the merchants in the bazaars did not hold up their goods and cry out eagerly, "Hey, John
The Innocents Abroad by Twain, Mark View in context
Nobs sat between the girl and me and was fed with morsels of the Plesiosaurus steak, at the risk of forever contaminating his manners.
The Land That Time Forgot by Burroughs, Edgar Rice View in context
"Any trifling inconvenience that I may suffer is as nothing," he remarked, "compared with the importance of preserving that pure name from the contaminating contact of the world.
The Moonstone by Collins, Wilkie View in context
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