First Known Use: 14th century
Dictionary
pollute
verb pol·lute \pə-ˈlüt\
: to make (land, water, air, etc.) dirty and not safe or suitable to use
pol·lut·edpol·lut·ing
Full Definition of POLLUTE
transitive verb
1
2
a : to make physically impure or unclean : befoul, dirty b : to contaminate (an environment) especially with man-made waste
— pol·lut·er noun
— pol·lut·ive \-ˈlü-tiv\ adjective
See pollute defined for English-language learners
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Origin of POLLUTE
Middle English, from Latin pollutus, past participle of polluere, from por- (akin to Latin per through) + -luere (akin to Latin lutum mud, Greek lyma dirt, defilement) — more at for
Related to POLLUTE
- Antonyms
- decontaminate, purify
Synonym Discussion of POLLUTE
contaminate, taint, pollute, defile mean to make impure or unclean. contaminate implies intrusion of or contact with dirt or foulness from an outside source <water contaminated by industrial wastes>. taint stresses the loss of purity or cleanliness that follows contamination <tainted meat> <a politician's tainted reputation>. pollute, sometimes interchangeable with contaminate, distinctively may imply that the process which begins with contamination is complete and that what was pure or clean has been made foul, poisoned, or filthy <the polluted waters of the river>. defile implies befouling of what could or should have been kept clean and pure or held sacred and commonly suggests violation or desecration <defile a hero's memory with slanderous innuendo>.
Rhymes with POLLUTE
acute, astute, Asyût, bear fruit, beetroot, Beirut, birthroot, bloodroot, breadfruit, butut, cahoot, Canute, catsuit, cheroot, choucroute, clubroot, commute, compute, confute, crapshoot, cube root, deaf-mute, depute, dilute, dispute, dry suit, elute, en route, enroot, flight suit, folkmoot, freeboot, galoot, grapefruit, G suit, hardboot, hip boot, hirsute, imbrute, impute, jackboot, jackfruit, jumpsuit, kashruth, lawsuit, long suit, lounge suit, minute, nonsuit, offshoot, outshoot, Paiute, pantsuit, permute, playsuit, pursuit, recruit, refute, repute, salute, sans doute, seaboot, snowsuit, solute, square root, star fruit, star route, statute, strong suit, sunsuit, sweat suit, swimsuit, take root, taproot, to boot, tracksuit, trade route, transmute, tribute, uproot, volute, wet suit, zoot suit
POLLUTED Defined for Kids
pollute
verb pol·lute \pə-ˈlüt\
pol·lut·edpol·lut·ing
Definition of POLLUTE for Kids
: to spoil or make impure especially with waste made by humans <Factories pollute the stream.>
— pol·lut·er noun
Medical Dictionary
pollute
transitive verb pol·lute \pə-ˈlüt\
pol·lut·edpol·lut·ing
Medical Definition of POLLUTE
1
: to make physically impure or unclean
2
: to contaminate (an environment) especially with man-made waste
—pol·lut·er noun
—pol·lut·ive \-ˈlüt-iv\ adjective
Learn More About POLLUTE
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