contaminate

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 3, 2021 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>contaminate</strong> &#149; \kun-TAM-uh-nayt\&nbsp; &#149; <em>verb</em><br /> <p><strong>1 a :</strong> to soil, stain, corrupt, or infect by contact or association</p> <p><strong>b :</strong> to make inferior or impure by admixture </p> <p><strong>2 :</strong> to make unfit for use by the introduction of unwholesome or undesirable elements</p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>"Marin Audubon Society president Barbara Salzman said she plans to review the city's environmental report, but expressed concern about the potential for tank leakage to <em>contaminate</em> groundwater." — <a href="https://www.marinij.com/2021/01/27/novato-environmental-report-clears-costco-gas-station-plan/#:~:text=Marin%20Audubon%20Society%20president%20Barbara,the%20bay%2C%E2%80%9D%20Salzman%20said.">Will Houston, <em>The Marin Independent Journal</em> (Marin County, California), 28 Jan. 2021</a></p> <p>"As to any recreation with other children of my age, I had very little of that; for the gloomy theology of the Murdstones made all children out to be a swarm of little vipers …, and held that they <em>contaminated</em> one another." — <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/766/766-h/766-h.htm">Charles Dickens, <em>David Copperfield</em>, 1849-1850</a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p><em>Contaminate</em>, <em>taint</em>, <em>pollute</em>, and <em>defile</em> mean to make impure or unclean. <em>Contaminate</em> implies intrusion of or contact with dirt or foulness from an outside source (logically enough, it derives from the Latin word <em>tangere</em>, meaning "to touch"). <em><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/taint">Taint</a></em> stresses a loss of purity or cleanliness that follows contact ("tainted meat"). <em><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictio