Adulterator

/əˈdʌltəˌreɪtər/ noun

Definition

a person who adulterates something, meaning they add inferior or harmful substances to a product to reduce its quality or deceive buyers.

Etymology

From 'adulterate' (to make impure by adding inferior substances) combined with the suffix '-or' (one who does an action). 'Adulterate' comes from Latin 'adulterare' (to corrupt).

Kelly Says

In 19th-century cities, milk adulterators added chalk and water to sell more volume, bread fraudsters mixed sawdust in, and coffee cheaters cut beans with chicory—so many were caught that food safety laws were created specifically to stop them.

Related Words

Explore More Words

Get the Word Orb API

Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.