verb (used with object), con·tam·i·nat·ed, con·tam·i·nat·ing.
- to make impure or unsuitable by contact or mixture with something unclean, bad, etc.: to contaminate a lake with sewage.
- to render harmful or unusable by adding radioactive material to: to contaminate a laboratory.
noun
- something that contaminates or carries contamination; contaminant.
adjective
- Obsolete. contaminated.
adjective
- not having been polluted, infected, or made impure
verb (kənˈtæmɪˌneɪt) (tr)
- to make impure, esp by touching or mixing; pollute
- to make radioactive by the addition of radioactive material
adjective (kənˈtæmɪnɪt, -ˌneɪt)
- archaic contaminated
v.early 15c., from Old French contaminer, from Latin contaminatus, past participle of contaminare “to defile,” from contamen “contact, pollution,” from com- “together” (see com-) + *tag-, base of tangere “to touch” (see tangent). Related: Contaminant (1934); contaminable. v.
- To make impure or unclean by contact or mixture.
- To expose to or permeate with radioactivity.