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adulterine. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
adulterine, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
adulterine in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Etymology
From Latin adulterīnus.
Pronunciation
Adjective
adulterine (comparative more adulterine, superlative most adulterine)
- Spurious; due to adulteration.
1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: , 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 4, member 1, subsection i:a knave apothecary, that administers the physick, and makes the medicine, may do infinite harm, by his old obsolete doses, adulterine druggs, bad mixtures, quid pro quo, &c.
- Born of adultery.
- Pertaining to adultery.
- Illegal; unlicensed.
1776, Adam Smith, An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations:when any particular class of artificers or traders thought proper to act as a corporation without a charter , such adulterine guilds , as they were called , were not always disfranchised […]
Noun
adulterine (plural adulterines)
- (rare) One born of an adulterous union.
Usage notes
See also
Italian
Adjective
adulterine
- feminine plural of adulterino
Latin
Pronunciation
Adjective
adulterīne
- vocative masculine singular of adulterīnus