contaminate
Americanverb (used with object)
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contaminates,
present (3rd person singular)
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contaminated,
past participle, past
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contaminating
present participle
noun
adjective
verb
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to make impure, esp by touching or mixing; pollute
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to make radioactive by the addition of radioactive material
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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contaminantnoun
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contaminatornoun
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recontaminateverb (used with object)
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contaminableadjective
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contaminativeadjective
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contaminousadjective
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noncontaminableadjective
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noncontaminativeadjective
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self-contaminatingadjective
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uncontaminableadjective
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uncontaminatedadjective
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uncontaminativeadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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contaminatesimple
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contaminatessimple
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have contaminatedperfect
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has contaminatedperfect
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am contaminatingprogressive
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are contaminatingprogressive
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is contaminatingprogressive
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have been contaminatingperfect progressive
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has been contaminatingperfect progressive
Past
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contaminatedsimple
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had contaminatedperfect
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was contaminatingprogressive
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were contaminatingprogressive
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had been contaminatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of contaminate
1375–1425; late Middle English contaminaten < Latin contāminātus, past participle of contāmināre to defile, spoil, equivalent to con- con- + -tāminare, verbal derivative of *tāmen something touched < *tag-s-men, equivalent to tag-, variant stem of tangere to touch + -s-men resultative noun suffix; cf. examen
Explanation
The verb contaminate means the same as pollute. Whether it’s food, air, or water, when you contaminate something, you make it impure or hazardous. Contaminate comes from the Latin word contaminat-, meaning “made impure.” You can use the word to indicate that a hazardous substance has been introduced into something else, such as food that is contaminated with mold. It can also be used figuratively to describe the spoiling of a good thing, like one person's habit of gossiping that can contaminate a conversation among friends.
Vocabulary lists containing contaminate
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Scientists and conservation groups have long warned lead shotgun pellets can contaminate habitats and harm wildlife after being deposited in the environment.
From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2026
And making this sort of bet inside your brokerage account could contaminate your thinking.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
Our water system’s decentralized, fragmented nature, perhaps a bit like our electoral system, is a double-edged sword, inasmuch as its vulnerabilities are atomized—at least a single hacker can’t contaminate all the water in the country.
From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2026
Burning natural gas also causes significant air pollution in the form of nitric oxides, sulfur, mercury and particulates, while hydraulic fracturing or "fracking," can contaminate ground water supplies.
From Barron's ● Jul. 25, 2026
Scientists knew they had to keep their cultures free from bacterial and viral contamination, and they knew it was possible for cells to contaminate one another if they got mixed up in culture.
From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
Cyclospora is a parasite that contaminates leafy greens, berries and herbs.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 3, 2026
“If a worker contaminates lettuce, that lettuce will likely be eaten before it becomes infectious,” Todd said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
Water shortages are not new, but many countries, especially in the global south, are experiencing climate change-related intense drought and flooding that contaminates water sources.
From BBC ● May 27, 2024
The other thing is that stress contaminates memory, so you can have two people in the same room telling completely opposite stories.
From Salon ● Feb. 4, 2024
But, Dulcie, it is usually the unfortunate rule that the lower subtly contaminates the higher, even in casual association—that the weaker gradually undermines the stronger until it sinks to lesser levels.
From The Moonlit Way by Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers
The relatively small sample means the findings cannot yet establish how radioactive particles behave throughout the entire contaminated region.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 23, 2026
Martian meteorites are extremely rare, but like all space rocks that fall to our planet, they become contaminated as soon as they get here, mixing with the air, dust, soil and water.
From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2026
After our office was cleared, we were all sent home, only to be told to return the next day to drop off our contaminated clothes in trash bags.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
Yuan said she’d dealt with years of chronic health issues and believed her dad’s death last September was due to some of the contaminated water he ingested.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
But there was ample reason to suspect the seeds on which McCandless dined during the last two weeks of July may have been contaminated with R. leguminicola.
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
In the 1920s, a modest mercury mine grew into a large open-pit operation, contaminating the watershed with the toxic metal.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
It said it suspected the pipes had leaked sewage into the ground, contaminating groundwater which then seeped into the bay.
From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2026
Before the virus was identified, it spread from herd to herd, infecting cattle and contaminating their surroundings.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 23, 2026
The disaster unleashed toxic sludge into the Kafue River, contaminating land and leaving residents without clean water.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 2026
The dead rabbit, which had seemed, at first, such a clean thing, was now wholly revolting, defiled and contaminating.
From "I'm the King of the Castle" by Susan Hill
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