adjective
-
made unclean or impure; contaminated
-
slang intoxicated; drunk
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of polluted
Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at 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.
“Based on my knowledge and everything I saw and experienced, East Palestine has always been more polluted and contaminated than what the EPA ever stated,” Dixon said in an interview with the Journal.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
In Pannu's view the law is not emissions regulation at all but closer to the 1980 law that created so-called "Superfund" sites -- highly polluted locations requiring long-term clean up.
From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026
Last year, the nearby River Teifi was noted as one of the UK's most polluted rivers, with 2,232 spills lasting more than 22,000 hours recorded in 2024.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
“Your bank account can’t protect you if you are breathing polluted air or rely on a dysfunctional health care system.”
From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2026
Even with the sand dollar I’d given the East River for a magic cleaning, the water here was pretty polluted.
From "The Last Olympian" by Rick Riordan
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.
