From the past participle stem of Latin vitiare, from vitium âviceâ.
- to spoil, make faulty; to reduce the value, quality, or effectiveness of something
#*1997: âMr Rose,â says the Physician, âthis man was brought to us from Russia. Precisely such a case of vitiated judgment as I describe at length in my Treatise on Madness. Mayhap you have read it?â â Andrew Miller, Ingenious Pain
- to debase or morally corrupt
- archaic to violate, to rape
#*1965: âCrush the cockatrice,â he groaned, from his death-cell. âI am dead in lawâ â but of the girl he denied that he had âattempted to vitiate her at Nine years oldâ; for âupon the word of a dying man, both her Eyes did see, and her Hands did act in all that was doneâ. â John Fowles, The Magus
- to make something ineffective, to invalidate