contaminating

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con·tam·i·nate

(kən-tăm′ə-nāt′)

tr.v. con·tam·i·nat·ed, 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.

3. Linguistics To influence the semantic properties or phonological form of (a word or phrase); blend with: The Middle English word femelle was contaminated by the word male, resulting in the modern form female.

n. (-nĭt)

One that contaminates; a contaminant.

[Middle English contaminaten, from Latin contāmināre, contāmināt-; see tag- in Indo-European roots.]

con·tam′i·na′tive adj.

con·tam′i·na′tor n.

Synonyms: contaminate, befoul, foul, poison, pollute, taint
These verbs mean to make dirty or impure: Pesticides contaminated the lake. Mud befouled his shoes. Noxious fumes foul the air. Farm runoff poisoned the fish. Exhaust polluted the air. Improper storage tainted the food.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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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

References in classic literature ?

Urged by a sudden, imperative impulse to deliver my son from that contaminating influence, I caught him up in my arms and carried him with me out of the room.

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The servant shrinks into a corner, into a corner of that hideous archway, with its deadly stains contaminating her dress; and putting out her two hands and passionately telling him to keep away from her, for he is loathsome to her, so remains for some moments.

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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!" or "Look this, Howajji!" On the contrary, they only scowled at us and said never a word.