pollution
[puh-loo-shuh n]
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Origin of pollution
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
abuse, infection, corruption, deterioration, desecration, defilement, taint, profanation, misuse, decomposition, adulteration, blight, uncleanness, foulness, impairment, impurity, rottenness, vitiation, spoliationExamples from the Web for pollution
Contemporary Examples
No one really argues with the massive amount of pollution and toxins.
States and utility companies will have a range of options for meeting the pollution reduction targets.
The pollution that 1970s environmentalism targeted was also more concrete.
Green Politics Has to Get More Radical, Because Anything Less Is ImpracticalJedediah Purdy
April 26, 2014
Fisheries, already stressed by pollution and over-harvesting, will now confront warming and acidification.
Public health officials point to pollution in the air, never pointing out the pollution in the gut.
New Research Shows Poorly Understood “Leaky Gut Syndrome” Is Real, May Be the Cause of Several DiseasesDaniela Drake
March 27, 2014
Historical Examples
And its incorporation is by no means equivalent to the pollution of epic.
An Essay on Satire, Particularly on the DunciadWalter Harte
Mere contact with an unbaptized person was considered a pollution.
Roman Catholicism in SpainAnonymous
But to learn any other language was pollution to a Jew, to teach a Jew any other was pollution to a Christian.
Dreamers of the GhettoI. Zangwill
To protect properly a well from gross pollution, two precautions should be observed.
Rural HygieneHenry N. Ogden
Limestone is even more dangerous if any pollution exists in the vicinity.
Rural HygieneHenry N. Ogden
pollution
- the act of polluting or the state of being polluted
- harmful or poisonous substances introduced into an environment
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for pollution
n.
mid-14c., "discharge of semen other than during sex," later, "desecration, defilement" (late 14c.), from Late Latin pollutionem (nominative pollutio) "defilement," noun of action from past participle stem of Latin polluere "to soil, defile, contaminate," from por- "before" + -luere "smear," from PIE root *leu- "dirt; make dirty" (cf. Latin lutum "mud, mire, clay," lues "filth;" Greek lyma "filth, dirt, disgrace," lymax "rubbish, refuse;" Old Irish loth "mud, dirt;" Lithuanian lutynas "pool, puddle"). Sense of "contamination of the environment" first recorded c.1860, but not common until c.1955.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
pollution
(pə-lōō′shən)- The act or process of polluting or the state of being polluted, especially the contamination of soil, water, or the atmosphere by the discharge of harmful substances.
- A pollutant or group of pollutants.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
pollution
[pə-lōō′shən]
- The contamination of air, water, or soil by substances that are harmful to living organisms. Pollution can occur naturally, for example through volcanic eruptions, or as the result of human activities, such as the spilling of oil or disposal of industrial waste.♦ Light from cities and towns at night that interferes with astronomical observations is known as light pollution. It can also disturb natural rhythms of growth in plants and other organisms.♦ Continuous noise that is loud enough to be annoying or physically harmful is known as noise pollution.♦ Heat from hot water that is discharged from a factory into a river or lake, where it can kill or endanger aquatic life, is known as thermal pollution.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.