contamination

American  

[kuhn-tam-uh-ney-shuhn] / kənˌtæm əˈneɪ ʃən /

noun

1. the act of contaminating, or of making something impure or unsuitable by contact with something unclean, bad, etc.

2. the act of contaminating, or of rendering something harmful or unusable by the addition of radioactive material.

   the contamination of food following a nuclear attack.

3. the state of being contaminated.

   The manufacturer recalled the product because of possible salmonella contamination.

4. Rare. something that contaminates a place or substance, as by making it impure, unsuitable, harmful, or unusable; a contaminant.

5. Linguistics.

   1. an alternation in a linguistic form due to the influence of a related form, as the replacement in English of earlier femelle with female through the influence of male.

   2. the process of forming blends.

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contamination British  

/ kənˌtæmɪˈneɪʃən /

noun

1. the act or process of contaminating or the state of being contaminated

2. something that contaminates

3. linguistics the process by which one word or phrase is altered because of mistaken associations with another word or phrase; for example, the substitution of irregardless for regardless by association with such words as irrespective

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Other Word Forms

• noncontamination noun
• recontamination noun
• self-contamination noun

Etymology

Origin of contamination

1375–1425; late Middle English contaminacioun < Late Latin contāminātiōn- (stem of contāminātiō ), equivalent to contāmināt ( us ) ( contaminate ) + -iōn- -ion

Explanation

Contamination is the unwanted pollution of something by another substance. When a nuclear power plant leaks radiation into the atmosphere, for example, it causes a contamination of the surrounding area. Contamination can also be used to refer to abstract ideas and concepts rather than to just physical things. The French complain that the increasing adoption of English words is a contamination of their linguistic heritage, and many parents today think rap music is a contamination of the public culture.

Example Sentences

Agriculture companies generally require an outsider to wear washed clothes they provide before working with livestock to avoid any contamination.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 7, 2026

One concern is that washing could create a lead-containing residue inside machines, which might need to be cleaned to prevent releasing contamination into wastewater.

From Science Daily • Apr. 2, 2026

Despite this challenge, Clough and McNeil, working with graduate student Eduardo Ochoa Rivera and statistics professor Ambuj Tewari, developed methods to separate true microplastics from glove-related contamination.

From Science Daily • Mar. 29, 2026

Stacey's family of six have all switched to a dairy free diet to avoid any cross contamination in the kitchen, and Stacey and her husband make all of Brayen's school lunches.

From BBC • Mar. 20, 2026

In Cordoba Province in Argentina, however, chronic arsenic poisoning, accompanied by arsenical skin cancers, is endemic because of the contamination of drinking water derived from rock formations containing arsenic.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson

Related Words

• contagion
• corruption
• disease
• epidemic
• infection
• poisoning
• pollution