contaminant
Americannoun
-
contaminants
plural
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of contaminant
1920–25; < Latin contāminant- (stem of contāmināns ), present participle of contāmināre. See contaminate, -ant
Vocabulary lists containing contaminant
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:
This included three uncapped mine shafts beneath the lagoon that were suggested as potential pathways for contaminant movement.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
“In some ways it’s not a surprise, but the specific contaminant, cyclospora, is more unusual than E. coli and salmonella problems in leafy greens.”
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 30, 2026
He said the research shows “that contaminant levels on aircraft are generally low and that health and safety standards are met.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2025
In the meantime, the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board began collecting samples of ocean water to assess contaminant levels.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 16, 2025
Avery fiddled with the experiment as only a microbiologist could, growing the bacteria in various cultures, adding beef-heart broth, removing contaminant sugars, and growing the colonies on plates.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
The agency has said it collected over 28,000 air samples and found no ongoing exposure in the East Palestine community from contaminants released by the derailment and subsequent cleanup.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
The same basic approach could also be adapted for environmental monitoring, where researchers often need to detect extremely small concentrations of contaminants mixed into much larger volumes of water.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026
The team at CR purchased samples of a variety of lunchbox foods—everything from Takis to oat bars—and tested them for several chemicals that they described as contaminants.
From Slate ● Sep. 14, 2026
The residents also told the county that Farmers has refused to pay for adequate remediation of the contaminants and declined to cover ongoing living expenses.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2026
For instance, people are made up of molecules of water and a few organic contaminants.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
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