cesspool

[ ses-pool ]

/ ˈsɛsˌpul /

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noun

a cistern, well, or pit for retaining the sediment of a drain or for receiving the sewage from a house.

any filthy receptacle or place.

any place of moral filth or immorality: a cesspool of iniquity.

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Origin of cesspool

1575–85; cess (<Italian cesso privy <Latin rēcessusrecess, place of retirement) + pool¹

Words nearby cesspool

cesser, cession, cessionary, cesspipe, cesspit, cesspool, cesta, c'est-à-dire, c'est autre chose, Cesti, c'est la guerre

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use cesspool in a sentence

In his public rhetoric, Jacobs doesn’t leave room for the idea that the buildings he demolishes are anything but cesspools.
He Tore Down Motels Where Poor Residents Lived During a Housing Crisis. City Leaders Did Nothing.|by Anjeanette Damon, photography by David Calvert, special to ProPublica|November 12, 2021|ProPublica
The Roaring Fork Valley is also a dollar-hungry cesspool of designer clothes and tacky high-end mountain art that lines the walls of mostly empty million-dollar second homes.
The Last Aspen Ski Bums Are About to Get Evicted|lwhelan|November 9, 2021|Outside Online
None of that tracked with the toxic cesspool of negativity that permeated the day, or even with the narrative that NBC was trying to spin.
The 2021 Olympics Are an Inspiring, Infuriating Shitshow|Kevin Fallon|July 30, 2021|The Daily Beast
“It’s not like someone wakes up one day and, all of a sudden, their site has become this cesspool of hate speech and extremism,” Fisher-Birch said.
TheDonald’s owner speaks out on why he finally pulled plug on hate-filled site|Craig Timberg, Drew Harwell|February 5, 2021|Washington Post

Brand safety and suitability have been top-of-mind for marketers concerns about content on these platforms — cesspools of hate and misinformation are not great places for most brands to be.
Social Shorts: Facebook attribution change on hold, Instagram gets more shoppable, turns 10|Ginny Marvin|October 12, 2020|Search Engine Land
On another, more macro level, did you find Europe to be such a cesspool of intrigue?
How The Cold War Endgame Played Out In The Rubble Of The Berlin Wall|William O’Connor|November 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The vote on Sunday could take Ukraine toward a modern functioning democracy or plunge it back into a cesspool of corruption.
Ukraine’s Wild and Wooly Elections|Anna Nemtsova|October 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It allows me to stomach the pathetic shenanigans of the cesspool of Washington, D.C.
Roland Martin: America, You Can’t Handle the Truth!|Roland S. Martin|January 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In the cesspool of cynicism that is Indian politics, we thought his train ride struck a blow instead for a degree of idealism.
How Rahul Gandhi Blew the Indian Rape Crisis|Dilip D’Souza|January 19, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Discouting the gross factor of swimming in that saline cesspool, there are some awesome images.
Rand Paul Swims in the Dead Sea|Justin Green|January 14, 2013|DAILY BEAST
I was in the pit, the abyss, the human cesspool, the shambles and the charnel-house of our civilization.
Revolution and Other Essays|Jack London
They are more fickle and cowardly than any other people in this cesspool which they call God's earth.
The Making of a Saint|William Somerset Maugham
All the vice and misery of the country got thrown into that cesspool.
Ravenshoe|Henry Kingsley
Once again I told her of my fear, my anxiety for her safety among those rough men in that cesspool of iniquity.
The Trail of '98|Robert W. Service
I had rescued him from one of his periodical plunges into the cesspool of debauch, and he was peaked, pallid, penitent.
The Trail of '98|Robert W. Service

British Dictionary definitions for cesspool

cesspool

cesspit (ˈsɛsˌpɪt)

/ (ˈsɛsˌpuːl) /

noun

Also called: sink, sump a covered cistern, etc, for collecting and storing sewage or waste water

a filthy or corrupt placea cesspool of iniquity

Word Origin for cesspool

C17: changed (through influence of pool 1) from earlier cesperalle, from Old French souspirail vent, air, from soupirer to sigh; see suspire

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

cesspool

Origin of cesspool

Words nearby cesspool

Words related to cesspool

How to use cesspool in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for cesspool

cesspit (ˈsɛsˌpɪt)

Word Origin for cesspool