lixiviate

interesting. I've not had occasion to actually use this word; but doesn't it have mostly positive connotations, in that you're either purifying something or trying to extract the good stuff for use (say, gold)?

it's closer than corrupting or defiling or defacing which all have the element of pollution; but it still doesn't evoke the action of throwing out the baby with the bath water that you seem to want.

here's some synonyms that might clarify my point:
purge, expurgate, elutriate, lixiviate, edulcorate, clarify, refine, rack

the shared element of all of these seems to be removal of something unwanted


elutriate - to purify
expurgate - remove offensive bits
rack - remove the dregs (from wine?)
edulcorate - to sweeten