adjective
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made unclean or impure; contaminated
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slang intoxicated; drunk
Other Word Forms
- pollutedness noun
- unpolluted adjective
Etymology
Origin of polluted
Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; pollute, -ed 2
Explanation
Anything that's polluted is ruined and dirty — it's been contaminated by something dangerous or even deadly. It's not safe to eat fish caught in a polluted river. The adjective polluted is obviously a close relative to pollute and pollution, so you know that polluted air or water isn't clean. All of these words come from the Latin polluere, "to soil or defile," from a combination of por-, "before," and -luere, "to smear." A polluted city can result from a coal-burning factory, and things can also be figuratively polluted: "Fear of outsiders created a polluted society."
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.
The Journal reported in March that Mr. Piñón believes new power plants have to be built because the existing ones sit on polluted land.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 12, 2026
This week Thailand's second city, Chiang Mai, regularly topped the IQAir monitor website's most polluted big cities list.
From Barron's • Apr. 3, 2026
Smoke from raging fires have choked parts of northern Thailand this past week, with Chiang Mai ranking among the world's most polluted cities, according to monitoring group IQAir.
From BBC • Mar. 31, 2026
People of color like him and his family worked and lived surrounded by the industries that polluted their air, and many still do.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 26, 2026
I have never known anyone who would even venture to stick his toe in its polluted brown waters, which seethe with sewage, industrial waste, and deadly insecticides.
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
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.
