adulterant

/ə'dʌltərənt/

Thân thiện

The inspector found an adulterant in the milk sample.

Definition

1. Noun:

   • A substance that lessens the purity or effectiveness of another substance: An "adulterant" is a material added to a product, often secretly, to increase its quantity or reduce its cost, thereby making it impure, weaker, or less effective.

2. Adjective:

   • Making impure or corrupt by adding extraneous materials: Used to describe a substance or agent that has the effect of contaminating or debasing the purity of something else.

Examples of Usage

• Noun:

  • The laboratory test revealed several dangerous adulterants in the dietary supplement.
  • Milk was historically a common target for adulterants like water or chalk.

• Adjective:

  • The adulterant substance was mixed with the flour to increase its weight.
  • They were accused of using an adulterant chemical in the fuel.

Advanced Usage

• "Act as an adulterant": To function as a substance that contaminates.

  • This cheap oil acts as an adulterant, degrading the quality of the entire batch.

• "Deliberate adulterant": A contaminant added intentionally.

  • The investigation focused on finding the deliberate adulterant in the pharmaceutical supply chain.

Variants and Related Words

• Adulterate (verb): To make something impure or weaker by adding another substance.
  • It is illegal to adulterate food products.
• Adulteration (noun): The process or act of adulterating.
  • The adulteration of spices is a serious problem in some markets.
• Adulterator (noun): A person or thing that adulterates.
  • The machine was identified as the primary adulterator in the factory.

Synonyms

• Contaminant: Something that makes a substance impure by contact or mixture.
• Impurity: An element that makes something less pure.
• Diluent: A substance used to dilute another (can be neutral or negative in connotation).
• Filler: An inexpensive substance used to add bulk (often carries a negative implication when undisclosed).

Related Phrases

• Adulterant detection: The process of finding contaminants in a product.
  • Advances in adulterant detection have improved food safety.
• Free from adulterants: A claim of purity.
  • This certificate guarantees the honey is free from adulterants.

Related Idioms

• To be laced with an adulterant: To have a harmful or cheap substance added to it.
  • The cocaine was found to be laced with a dangerous adulterant.
• The adulterant of choice: The most commonly used substance for adulterating a particular product.
  • For expensive saffron, turmeric is often the adulterant of choice.

Học thuật

Adjective

1. making impure or corrupt by adding extraneous materials
   • the adulterating effect of extraneous materials

Noun

1. any substance that lessens the purity or effectiveness of a substance
   • it is necessary to remove the adulterants before use

Từ đồng nghĩa

• adulterating
• adulterator