Vitiated

Part of speech: adjective, verb

Definitions

1. Impaired or damaged in quality, making something faulty or spoiled ; reduced in strength or effectiveness, leading to invalidity or loss of force
2. Degraded or corrupted so that the original quality is lost ; lessened in power or legal standing, often rendering something void or ineffective
3. Compromised in condition or value, causing a defect or deterioration ; diminished in impact or authority, often resulting in annulment or cancellation

Etymology: "Vitiated" is the past form of "vitiate", so the story belongs to the verb. The verb comes from Latin "vitiō", meaning "damage" or "spoil", which was itself built on "vitium", "vice" or "fault". The Latin word carried the sense of something spoiled by a defect, and that notion of a flaw that ruins what it touches has stayed attached to the English verb ever since. The English verb grew from the past participle "vitiātus", so it arrived as a ready-made spoiling word. Its move from physical damage toward legal and moral ruin is what gives it its current range: a contract can be vitiated when a fraud undermines it, and a argument or atmosphere can be vitiated when something corrupts its force. In each case the thing remains in place but has lost its validity or quality.

Synonyms: corrupted, tainted

Antonyms: purified, clean