contaminate
to make impure or unsuitable by contact or mixture with something unclean, bad, etc.: to contaminate a lake with sewage.
to render harmful or unusable by adding radioactive material to: to contaminate a laboratory.
something that contaminates or carries contamination; contaminant.
Obsolete. contaminated.
Origin of contaminate
1Other words for contaminate
Other words from contaminate
- con·tam·i·na·ble, adjective
- con·tam·i·na·tive, adjective
- con·tam·i·na·tor, noun
- con·tam·i·nous, adjective
- non·con·tam·i·na·ble, adjective
- non·con·tam·i·na·tive, adjective
- re·con·tam·i·nate, verb (used with object), re·con·tam·i·nat·ed, re·con·tam·i·nat·ing.
- self-con·tam·i·nat·ing, adjective
- un·con·tam·i·na·ble, adjective
- un·con·tam·i·nat·ed, adjective
- un·con·tam·i·na·tive, adjective
Words Nearby contaminate
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use contaminate in a sentence
Some of these species are endangered, and their infection would likely occur either through direct contact with humans at zoos or aquariums or via untreated wastewater that is contaminated with the coronavirus from human sewage.
Everything we know—and don’t know—about human-to-animal COVID transmission | jakemeth | September 4, 2020 | FortuneSure that the dish had become contaminated, Xue and colleagues tried the experiment again … and again … and again.
The Neurons That Appeared from Nowhere - Issue 89: The Dark Side | Nayanah Siva | September 2, 2020 | NautilusThe gel also might limit bees’ ability to fly or even contaminate bees’ eggs.
For teens, big problems may lead to meaningful research | Carolyn Wilke | July 28, 2020 | Science News For StudentsHowever, veterinary specialists say there are techniques that can help people identify contaminated food before they buy it.
Poisons are being used to beautify food on sale in African markets | Ghislaine Deudjui | July 7, 2020 | QuartzAt the beginning of the outbreak, public health officials thought that the virus was primarily transmitted by people touching contaminated objects or surfaces and then touching their face.
Why scientists say wearing masks shouldn’t be controversial | Tina Hesman Saey | June 26, 2020 | Science News
The hope, according to Rucker, is that Beck threatens to contaminate Fox News' overall brand.
"They were afraid they would contaminate the other embryos," said Monica.
In practice they do not transfer to knife edges or cross-contaminate other foods because the board will not let go of them.
To purify liquids by the dissipation of the volatile matters which may contaminate them.
How could I know a wretched exile had returned to contaminate the soil with foreign vulgarity?
Where the Pavement Ends | John RussellOne spotted peach will contaminate an entire basket, one drop of ink cloud a full glass of clear water.
The Lieutenant-Governor | Guy Wetmore CarrylDid you think for a moment that I would leave this angel from heaven here, for you to contaminate with your filthy breath!
Grif | B. L. (Benjamin Leopold) FarjeonEven his engagements in the service of excise did not, at first, threaten either to contaminate the poet or to ruin the farmer.
Life of Robert Burns | Thomas Carlyle
British Dictionary definitions for contaminate
to make impure, esp by touching or mixing; pollute
to make radioactive by the addition of radioactive material
archaic contaminated
Origin of contaminate
1Derived forms of contaminate
- contaminable, adjective
- contaminant, noun
- contaminative, adjective
- contaminator, noun
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
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