Acidulates

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To apply an agent that introduces acidity to a substance or mixture
2. To add a substance that imparts a mild sourness or acidity to a mixture
3. To treat a material by increasing its acid levels slightly to alter taste or chemical balance

Etymology: "Acidulates" is the third-person singular present form of "acidulate", meaning to treat a substance or mixture with an agent that adds acidity. The verb is built from "acid", the Latin-derived word for sour, plus "-ule", a diminutive ending that signals something slightly or mildly of a quality, and "-ate", the common suffix for verbs formed from nouns and adjectives in English. Put together, the sense is to make something somewhat acid rather than fully so. The word's French counterpart, "aciduler", points to the same pattern of formation, and the English verb follows that model. The "-ule" element is the same one found in words like "globule" and "capsule", where it marks a small or reduced version of something. "Acidulous", meaning slightly sour, comes from the same family of words and shows how the diminutive idea has been applied to acid.

Synonyms: acidify, sour

Antonyms: alkalinize