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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Vitiate \Vi"ti*ate\, verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Vitiated}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Vitiating}.] [L. vitiatus, p. p. vitiare to vitiate, fr. vitium a fault, vice. See {Vice} a fault.] [Written also {viciate}.]
1. To make vicious, faulty, or imperfect; to render defective; to injure the substance or qualities of; to impair; to contaminate; to spoil; as, exaggeration vitiates a style of writing; sewer gas vitiates the air.
A will vitiated and growth out of love with the truth disposes the understanding to error and delusion. --South.
Without care it may be used to vitiate our minds. --Burke.
This undistinguishing complaisance will vitiate the taste of readers. --Garth.
2. To cause to fail of effect, either wholly or in part; to make void; to destroy, as the validity or binding force of an instrument or transaction; to annul; as, any undue influence exerted on a jury vitiates their verdict; fraud vitiates a contract.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
vitiate
verb
1: corrupt morally or by intemperance or sensuality; "debauch the young people with wine and women"; "Socrates was accused of corrupting young men"; "Do school counselors subvert young children?"; "corrupt the morals" [syn: {corrupt}, {pervert}, {subvert}, {demoralize}, {demoralise}, {debauch}, {debase}, {profane}, {deprave}, {misdirect}]
2: make imperfect; "nothing marred her beauty" [syn: {mar}, {impair}, {spoil}, {deflower}]
3: take away the legal force of or render ineffective; "invalidateas a contract" [syn: {invalidate}, {void}] [ant: {validate}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
91 Moby Thesaurus words for "vitiate": abate, abolish, abrogate, adulterate, alloy, annihilate, annul, bastardize, blemish, bring to nothing, brutalize, buffer, cancel, cancel out, canker, cheapen, coarsen, come to nothing, confound, contaminate, corrupt, corrupted, counterbalance, damage, debase, debauch, debauched, defile, deflower, degenerate, degrade, delete, demoralize, denature, deprave, depraved, depreciate, depress, desecrate, despoil, destroy, devalue, diminish, distort, downgrade, frustrate, harm, hurt, impair, infect, invalidate, lower, mar, misuse, negate, negativate, negative, neutralize, nullify, offset, pervert, perverted, poison, pollute, prejudice, prostitute, quash, ravage, ravish, reduce, revoke, ruin, soil, spoil, stultify, sully, suppress, taint, tarnish, thwart, twist, ulcerate, undermine, undo, violate, vitiated, void, vulgarize, warp, weaken, withdraw
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