admixture

admixture 1 *mixture, composite, blend, compound, amalgam

2 Admixture, alloy, adulterant are comparable when they denote an added ingredient that destroys the purity or genuineness of a substance.

Admixture suggests the addition of the foreign or the nonessential

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pure Indian without any admixture of white blood

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love with an admixture of selfishness

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comic verses with an occasional admixture of mild bawdry— Cowie

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Alloy derives its figurative implication of an addition that detracts from the value or perfection of a thing from an old literal application to a base metal added to a precious metal to give it hardness

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there’s no fortune so good, but it has its alloy— Bacon

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he had his alloy, like other people, of ambition and selfishness— Rose Macaulay

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Adulterant, both literally and figuratively, implies the addition of something that debases or impairs a thing without markedly affecting its appearance. Consequently it usually implies the intent to deceive interests

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. . . trying to upgrade consumer thinking on wool by classifying the new textile fibers as adulterants— F. A. Adams

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piety without any adulterant of hypocrisy

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Analogous words: *addition, accretion: *touch, suggestion, streak, dash, spice, tinge, smack, shade: infusion, suffusion, leaven (see corresponding verbs at INFUSE)