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Contaminating   /kəntˈæmənˌeɪtɪŋ/   Listen
Contaminating

adjective
1.
Spreading pollution or contamination; especially radioactive contamination.  Synonym: dirty.  "A dirty bomb releases enormous amounts of long-lived radioactive fallout"
2.
That infects or taints.  Synonym: corrupting.






WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








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"Contaminating" Quotes from Famous Books



... bedroom would have seemed little short of profanation to both the rector and Mrs. Pendleton. The sacred shelves of that bookcase (which had been ceremoniously presented to her on her fourteenth birthday) had never suffered the contaminating presence of realism. The solitary purpose of art was, in Mrs. Pendleton's eyes, to be "sweet," and she scrupulously judged all literature by its success or failure in this particular quality. It seemed to her as wholesome to feed her daughter's growing fancy on an imaginary line of pious heroes, ...
— Virginia • Ellen Glasgow

... unworthy fashion, to a fabric with which it has nothing in common. The stone-mason here superseded the craftsman; and, with the termination of the reign of Francois I., and following with that of Henry II., came the flowering rankness of a degenerate weed, leaving, as evidence of its contaminating influence in this one example alone, traces of nearly every classical order, from the simple Doric column to a ...
— The Cathedrals of Northern France • Francis Miltoun

... materials, and we expose our putrescent bodies in open stone receptacles, resting on fourteen feet of solid granite, not necessarily to be consumed by vultures, but to be dissipated in the speediest possible manner and without the possibility of polluting the earth or contaminating a single being dwelling thereon. God, indeed, sends the vultures, and, as a matter of fact, these birds do their appointed work much more expeditiously than millions of insects would do if we committed our bodies to the ground. In a sanitary point of view, nothing can be more ...
— A Further Contribution to the Study of the Mortuary Customs of the North American Indians • H.C. Yarrow

... Graevenitz with the temptress of Guestrow; and when in answer to her Highness's query, whether the evil woman had been punished for her wickedness, Mueller threw himself at the Duchess's feet and told her openly that the contaminating female was the Graevenitz, whom he had followed from Guestrow—he, the poor instrument of God's righteous wrath, her Highness indeed felt that here was the vengeance of the Almighty coming upon her enemy. Mueller was sincere enough in his abhorrence of the woman who ...
— A German Pompadour - Being the Extraordinary History of Wilhelmine van Graevenitz, - Landhofmeisterin of Wirtemberg • Marie Hay

... prove the surest and most fruitful source of social improvement and civilization, as well as of spiritual blessings infinitely more valuable, and would be found the only effectual antidote to the contaminating vices which a rapidly-increasing trade, especially with California and Oregon, is bringing in ...
— Metlakahtla and the North Pacific Mission • Eugene Stock

... chance inadvertently to whisper above my breath, 'Le jeu n'en vaut pas la chandelle?' What the deuce do you suppose I care about her 'faith?' She may run through the whole catalogue from the mustard-seed size up, as far as I am concerned, and you may make yourself easy on the score of my 'contaminating' ...
— St. Elmo • Augusta J. Evans

... growing suddenly furious, "no! a thousand times! I'd sooner see her in the burning depths of the bottomless pit than have you get within a hundred miles of her with your contaminating presence. She is safely hidden away, and that forever, from the companionship of our sex. So let her ...
— Deadwood Dick, The Prince of the Road - or, The Black Rider of the Black Hills • Edward L. Wheeler

... the most demoralizing place to which an anxious and prudent parent could send a young lad. Freed suddenly from all parental control, and exposed to the contaminating influence of broken-down gentlemen loafers, who hide their pride and poverty in the woods, he joins in their low debauchery, and falsely imagines that, by becoming a blackguard, he will ...
— Life in the Clearings versus the Bush • Susanna Moodie

... management was, that it inspired the boys with strength and self-respect. They felt that they were trusted. There were, of course, MAUVAIS SUJETS at Rugby, as there are at all schools; and these it was the master's duty to watch, to prevent their bad example contaminating others. On one occasion he said to an assistant-master: "Do you see those two boys walking together? I never saw them together before. You should make an especial point of observing the company they keep: nothing so tells the ...
— Character • Samuel Smiles

... not much more than a third of what it had grown to at that time; and he looked at me. He did not say anything; he merely looked at me, long and fixedly. Then he deliberately turned his back and walked to the other end of the platform as far as possible from my contaminating influence. I was never so explicitly and categorically called a liar in my life; and he doubtless went home and told his family of the magnificent Western exaggerator whom he had met "down to the depot." I fear the American reputation often suffers ...
— The Twentieth Century American - Being a Comparative Study of the Peoples of the Two Great - Anglo-Saxon Nations • H. Perry Robinson

... on any account, whilst still applying his eye to the ocular, rack the body tube down (for by so doing there is every likelihood of the front lens of the objective being forced through the cover-glass, and not only spoiling the specimen, but also contaminating the objective); but, on the contrary, withdraw his eye, rack the tube up, and commence again ...
— The Elements of Bacteriological Technique • John William Henry Eyre

... of such a kind that they would not of themselves constitute a very peculiar case against the English language; but their addition to the main list does very much strengthen the case. One intention in isolating them from the main list was to prevent their contaminating it with their weaker quality; but their separate classification crosses and sometimes overrides that more general distinction. Section iv has some literary interest; vi is inconsistent; the other sections are more ...
— Society for Pure English, Tract 2, on English Homophones • Robert Bridges

... parts—a foundation: a girdle apparently to bind together and tie on the head; and a decoration. Straw, silk and some kind of unreal flowers. Was that all? He stooped down and picked the thing up with the tips of his fingers, held it at arms length as though it were contaminating, and examined the inside. Ah! There was another element in its construction, a sort of frill of something thin,—hardly lace,—more like the foam of a cloud. He touched the tulle clumsily with his thumb and finger and then he dropped the bonnet back into the corner again. He thought he understood ...
— Marcia Schuyler • Grace Livingston Hill Lutz

... space of time, those inside assuming their fiercest and most aggressive attitudes, and as they came repeatedly urging the demon to increased exertions. Their speed exceeded that of the swallow in his hymeneal flight, all shrubs and flowers by the wayside withered incapably at the demon's contaminating glance, running water ceased to flow, and the road itself was scorched at their passage, the earth emitting a dull bluish flame. These facts, and the times and the distances, this person has further inscribed in a book which thus disposes of all possible defence. Therefore, ...
— The Mirror of Kong Ho • Ernest Bramah

... diseases can originate only from the excretions of people who are giving off the specific germs, it would be logical to endeavour to destroy such excreta or render it incapable of contaminating water or food. This is done. All excreta behind the front line and reserve trenches is destroyed in numerous incinerators, which are kept burning night and day. The British Army is the only army which has succeeded in doing this. All excreta which cannot be ...
— On the Fringe of the Great Fight • George G. Nasmith

... precedent. So far as political power is concerned, we are nearly disarmed. The influx of population finds its way into the opened avenues of the North and West. And with opinions predisposed against our institutions, and the contaminating influence standing ready with open arms to embrace the great current, what can we expect? It's the increasing power made by foreign influx that's giving tone to our government. If our Southern Convention stand firm we are saved; but I'm fearful there's too many doubtful ...
— Manuel Pereira • F. C. Adams

... poachers. He hated the Game-Laws as they stood, and it stirred his honest wrath to reflect that "for every ten pheasants which fluttered in the wood, one English peasant was rotting in gaol." So strong was his belief in the contaminating effects of a prisoner's life that he never, if he could help it, would commit a boy or girl to gaol. He sought permission to accompany Mrs. Fry on one of her visits to Newgate, and spoke of her ministry there as "the most solemn, the most Christian, ...
— Sydney Smith • George W. E. Russell

... developed rapidly; soon eager competition arose for the convict hands that had been at first so reluctantly taken. Great facilities existed for utilizing them on the wide areas of grazing land and on the new stations in the interior. A pastoral life, without temptations and contaminating influences, was well suited for convicts. As the colony grew richer and more populous, other than agricultural employers became assignees, and numerous enterprises were set on foot. The trades and callings ...
— Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 2 - "Demijohn" to "Destructor" • Various

... had many bad features and should, where possible, be avoided. Firstly, there is the stigma that attaches to every man who has worn the broad-arrow. Secondly, there is the loss of self-respect which, together with the contaminating influences existing in a prison, often convert the minor offender into the hardened criminal. Thirdly, there are the hardships that the wife and family are called upon to endure while the bread-winner is in gaol and ...
— A Plea for the Criminal • James Leslie Allan Kayll



Words linked to "Contaminating" :   infectious, clean



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