pollute
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to make foul or unclean, especially with harmful chemical or waste products; dirty.
to pollute the air with smoke.
- Antonyms:
- purify
-
to make morally unclean; defile.
- Antonyms:
- purify
-
to render ceremonially impure; desecrate.
to pollute a house of worship.
-
Informal. to render less effective or efficient.
The use of inferior equipment has polluted the company's service.
verb
-
to contaminate, as with poisonous or harmful substances
-
to make morally corrupt or impure; sully
-
to desecrate or defile
Other Word Forms
- nonpolluting adjective
- polluter noun
- pollutive adjective
- unpolluting adjective
Etymology
Origin of pollute
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English polute, from Latin pollūtus, past participle of polluere “to soil, defile,” equivalent to pol-, assimilated variant of por- “forth, forward” (variant of prefix per- ), here marking completed action + -lū- base of -luere (akin to lutum “mud, dirt,” lustrum “muddy place”) + -tus past participle suffix; per-
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.
Apart from climate concerns, strikes on energy infrastructure, oil tankers and military targets pollute the surrounding air and water and spread highly toxic chemicals far and wide, experts say.
From Barron's • Mar. 15, 2026
Much of the soil has been contaminated, they say, by toxic elements and heavy metals which will pollute the land and crops grown on it "for years to come".
From BBC • Mar. 13, 2026
Fossil fuels pollute the air when they are extracted and when they are burned, but the steps between those two points involve far more than familiar scenes of drilling equipment and smoke-filled power plants.
From Science Daily • Nov. 20, 2025
Unfortunately, these tests served mostly to put both East and West on edge, pollute parts of the United States and the former Soviet Union, and make a lot of people sick.
From Salon • Nov. 2, 2025
On earth, astronomers are hindered by electric lights and radio signals that pollute the night sky, but on the back side of the moon astronomers could view the universe without interference.
From "Flying to the Moon: An Astronaut's Story" by Michael Collins
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
