Vitiating

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To damage or compromise the validity and effectiveness of something
2. Causing something to lose its intended strength or impact by impairing its function or value
3. Making a process or condition weaker or less effective than originally intended

Etymology: Latin "vitium" meant "fault," "defect," or "vice," and the verb "vitiare" grew from it, meaning to spoil or damage something so that it no longer works properly. English borrowed the idea through the past participle "vitiatus," and "vitiate" has carried that sense of corrupting from within ever since: a contract can be vitiated by fraud, and an argument by a hidden flaw. The word is a straightforward Latin formation, and its root connects it to "vice" in the sense of a moral failing as well as physical imperfection. A vice and a vitiation both describe something that has gone wrong at its core. The verb form in English is what readers meet most often, and "vitiating" is simply its present participle, used to describe the act of weakening something as it happens.

Synonyms: invalidating, nullifying, impairing, corrupting, spoiling

Antonyms: validating, confirming, strengthening, supporting, upholding