contaminate vs foul what difference

what is difference between contaminate and foul

English

Etymology

From Old French contaminer, from Latin contaminare (“to touch together, blend, mingle, corrupt, defile”), from contamen (“contact, defilement, contagion”), related to tangere.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kənˈtæmɪneɪt/

Verb

contaminate (third-person singular simple present contaminates, present participle contaminating, simple past and past participle contaminated)

1. (transitive) To make something dangerous or toxic by introducing impurities or foreign matter.

2. (transitive) To soil, stain, corrupt, or infect by contact or association.
   • I would neither have simplicity imposed upon, nor virtue contaminated.
3. (transitive) To make unfit for use by the introduction of unwholesome or undesirable elements.

4. To infect, often with bad objects

Related terms

• contaminable
• contamination
• contaminative

Translations

Further reading

• contaminate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• contaminate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• contaminate at OneLook Dictionary Search

Italian

Verb

contaminate

1. inflection of contaminare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative
   3. feminine plural past participle

Anagrams

• manentatico

Latin

Verb

contāmināte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of contāminō

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: foul, IPA^(key): /faʊl/
• Rhymes: -aʊl
• Homophone: fowl
• Rhymes: -aʊəl

Etymology 1

From Middle English foul, from Old English fūl (“foul, unclean, impure, vile, corrupt, rotten, guilty”), from Proto-Germanic *fūlaz (“foul, rotten”), from Proto-Indo-European *puH- (“to rot”). Cognate with Dutch vuil (“foul”), German faul (“rotten, putrid”), Danish and Swedish ful (“foul”), and through Indo-European, with Albanian fëlliq (“to make dirty”), Latin puter (“rotten”). More at putrid.

Ancient Greek φαῦλος (phaûlos, “bad”) is a false cognate inasmuch as it is not from the same etymon, instead being cognate to few.

Adjective

foul (comparative fouler, superlative foulest)

1. Covered with, or containing unclean matter; dirty.

2. (of words or a way of speaking) obscene, vulgar or abusive.

3. Detestable, unpleasant, loathsome.
   • c. 1610-11, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act II scene ii^[1]:

     […] Hast thou forgot / The foul witch Sycorax, who with age and envy / Was grown into a hoop? Hast thou forgot her?
4. Disgusting, repulsive; causing disgust.

5. (obsolete) Ugly; homely; poor.
6. (of the weather) Unpleasant, stormy or rainy.
7. Dishonest or not conforming to the established rules and customs of a game, conflict, test, etc.

8. (nautical) Entangled and therefore restricting free movement, not clear.

9. (technical) (with “of”) Positioned on, in, or near enough to (a specified area) so as to obstruct it.
   • 2015, Transportation Safety Board of Canada, Railway Investigation Report R13T0192^[2]:

     The bus had stopped just foul of the north track at the Erindale Station Road public railway crossing […] With the bus stationary, but still foul of the north track, the train struck one of its front mirrors.

10. (baseball) Outside of the base lines; in foul territory.

Usage notes

• Nouns to which “foul” is often applied: play, ball, language, breath, smell, odor, water, weather, deed.

Synonyms

• (hateful, detestable): shameful; odious; wretched

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English foulen, fulen, from Old English fūlian (“to become foul; rot; decay”), from Proto-Germanic *fūlāną (“to rot; decay”).

Verb

foul (third-person singular simple present fouls, present participle fouling, simple past and past participle fouled)

1. (transitive) To make dirty.

   to foul the face or hands with mire

   She’s fouled her diaper.

2. (transitive) To besmirch.

   He’s fouled his reputation.

3. (transitive) To clog or obstruct.
4. (transitive, nautical) To entangle.
   • 1941, Emily Carr, Klee Wyck, Chapter 18, [3]

     The Indian’s heart was sore for his boat; it looked as if nothing could save her. She was drifting more slowly now, her propeller fouled in kelp.

   The kelp has fouled the prop.

5. (transitive, basketball) To make contact with an opposing player in order to gain advantage.

   Smith fouled him hard.

6. (transitive, baseball) To hit outside of the baselines.

   Jones fouled the ball off the facing of the upper deck.

7. (intransitive) To become clogged.

   The drain fouled.

8. (intransitive) To become entangled.

   The prop fouled on the kelp.

9. (intransitive, basketball) To commit a foul.

   Smith fouled within the first minute of the quarter.

10. (intransitive, baseball) To hit a ball outside of the baselines.

    Jones fouled for strike one.

Derived terms

• foul one’s own nest

Translations

Noun

foul (plural fouls)

1. (sports) A breach of the rules of a game, especially one involving inappropriate contact with an opposing player in order to gain an advantage; for example, tripping someone up in soccer, or contact of any kind in basketball.
2. (bowling) A (usually accidental) contact between a bowler and the lane before the bowler has released the ball.
3. (baseball) A foul ball, a ball which has been hit outside of the base lines.

   Jones hit a foul up over the screen.

Descendants

• → Russian: фол (fol)

Translations

See also

• foul fish

Further reading

• foul in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• foul in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• foul at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• fluo-

German

Verb

foul

1. singular imperative of foulen
2. (colloquial) first-person singular present of foulen

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old French fol.

Noun

foul

1. Alternative form of fole (“fool”)

Etymology 2

From Old English fugol.

Noun

foul

1. Alternative form of fowel

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