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Dictionary

con•tam•i•na•tion

Pronunciation: (kun-tam"u-nā'shun), [key]
—n.
1. the act of contaminating.
2. the state of being contaminated.
3. something that contaminates.
4. Ling.
a. an alternation in a linguistic form due to the influence of a related form, as the replacement in English of earlier femelle with female through the influence of male.
b. the process of forming blends. Cf. blend (def. 9).

Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.

contaminate

contango

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