vitiate (vishiat)

t.; pret. and pp. vitiated, ppr. vitiating. [Formerly ely also viciate; It. viziare = Sp. Pg. viciar = F. vicier ), make faulty, injure, spoil, corrupt, Wholesome meats to a vitiated stomack differ little or nothing from unwholesome. Milton, Areopagitica, p. 16. 2. To cause to fail of effect, either in whole or in part; render invalid or of no effect; destroy the validity or binding force of, of, as of a legal instrument or a transaction; divest of legal value or authority; invalidate: as, any undue influence exerted on a jury vitiates their verdict; fraud vitiates a contract; a court is vitiated by the presence of unqualified persons sitting as members of it. The least defect of self-po e ion vitiates , in my judgment, the entire relation [friendship]. Emerson, Friendship. =Syn. 1. Pollute, Corrupt, etc. (see taint1 ), debase, de prave.