adulterant

noun

adul·​ter·​ant ə-ˈdəl-t(ə-)rənt How to pronounce adulterant (audio)
: an adulterating substance or agent
adulterant adjective

Examples of adulterant in a Sentence

concerned about adulterants in the town's water supply coming from the discharge from the factory
Recent Examples on the Web This is a notorious adulterant of spices used to artificially bolster their color and weight. Kevin Purdy, Ars Technica, 9 Jan. 2024 The 2017 study highlighted the reason that lead chromate is used as an adulterant. Kevin Purdy, Ars Technica, 9 Jan. 2024 The street supply of most drugs is now contaminated with fentanyl, as well as xylazine, and many other deadly adulterants. Peter Grinspoon, Time, 23 Aug. 2023 Samples of about one-third of the medications were later tested at a laboratory with a mass spectrometer, which helped confirm initial results and identify other adulterants — including MDMA and caffeine. Connor Sheets, Los Angeles Times, 14 June 2023 But in Kensington, now the fentanyl supply has adulterants too. Samantha Guff, CNN, 7 Mar. 2023 That’s the way fentanyl has been found as an adulterant in many other drugs, helping to drive US overdose deaths to record highs. Samantha Guff, CNN, 7 Mar. 2023 The report found that heroin and fentanyl, a synthetic opioid far more powerful than heroin that increasingly has been added as an adulterant to street drugs, accounted for the vast majority of the nearly 1,600 deaths that have happened in suburban Cook County since 2016. John Keilman, chicagotribune.com, 19 Feb. 2021 But aside from appearing as an adulterant in powdered fentanyl and heroin, Cavaleri said the sedative also appeared in counterfeit pills — including at least once in a fake Xanax. Keri Blakinger, Los Angeles Times, 22 Mar. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'adulterant.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1755, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of adulterant was circa 1755

Dictionary Entries Near adulterant

Cite this Entry

“Adulterant.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/adulterant. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

adulterant

noun
adul·​ter·​ant ə-ˈdəl-tə-rənt How to pronounce adulterant (audio)
: something used to adulterate another thing

Medical Definition

adulterant

noun
adul·​ter·​ant ə-ˈdəl-t(ə-)rənt How to pronounce adulterant (audio)
: an adulterating substance or agent
adulterant adjective

More from Merriam-Webster on adulterant

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