maculate

English

Etymology

First attested during the last quarter of the 15th century, in Middle English; inherited from Middle English maculaten (“to spoil, polute”), borrowed from Latin maculātus, perfect passive participle of maculō (“to spot”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix).

Pronunciation 1

• IPA^(key): /ˈmækjʊleɪt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ækjʊleɪt, -ækjʊlət

Verb

maculate (third-person singular simple present maculates, present participle maculating, simple past and past participle maculated)

1. To spot; to stain; to blur.
   • 1531, Thomas Elyot, The Boke Named the Governour […], London: […] Tho[mas] Bertheleti, →OCLC:

     they wolde nat maculate the honour of their people with suche a reproche

   • 1918, Louis Joseph Vance, “Chapter 21”, in The False Faces:

     There was a fresh smell in the air. Sidewalks began to be maculated with spreading areas of dryness

2. (obsolete) past participle of maculate
   • c. 1550, The Complaynt of Scotland:

     That the honour of verteous gentil men, be nocht maculat vitht the vice ande inciuilite of vicius pretendit gentil men.

Derived terms

• bimaculate
• maculism

Related terms

• immaculate
• macula

Translations

To spot; to stain; to blur

• Bulgarian: опетнявам (bg) (opetnjavam)
• French: maculer (fr)
• Russian: загрязнять (ru) (zagrjaznjatʹ), па́чкать (ru) (páčkatʹ)
• Spanish: macular (es)

Pronunciation 2

• IPA^(key): /ˈmækjʊlət/, /ˈmækjələt/
• Rhymes: -ækjʊleɪt, -ækjʊlət

Adjective

maculate (comparative more maculate, superlative most maculate) (now rare, poetic)

1. Marked with spots or maculae; blotched.
2. Defiled, impure.
   • 1998 May 25, The New Republic:

     [Les Misérables is] about the struggle of a mistreated man as he rises to the top, along with a mortal conflict between this maculate virtuous man and an immaculate pursuing demon.

Translations

Marked with spots or maculae; blotched — see also maculated

• Bulgarian: покрит с петна (pokrit s petna)
• Dutch: gespikkeld (nl), vlekkerig (nl)
• Russian: пятни́стый (ru) (pjatnístyj)
• Spanish: macular (es)

Defiled; impure

• French: impur (fr)
• Russian: гря́зный (ru) (grjáznyj)

References

• “maculate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Italian

Adjective

maculate

1. feminine plural of maculato

Anagrams

• calumate, malcaute

Latin

Participle

maculāte

1. vocative masculine singular of maculātus

Spanish

Verb

maculate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of macular combined with te