contamination
Americannoun
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the act of contaminating, or of making something impure or unsuitable by contact with something unclean, bad, etc.
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the act of contaminating, or of rendering something harmful or unusable by the addition of radioactive material.
the contamination of food following a nuclear attack.
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the state of being contaminated.
The manufacturer recalled the product because of possible salmonella contamination.
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Rare. something that contaminates a place or substance, as by making it impure, unsuitable, harmful, or unusable; a contaminant.
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Linguistics.
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an alternation in a linguistic form due to the influence of a related form, as the replacement in English of earlier femelle with female through the influence of male.
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the process of forming blends.
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noun
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the act or process of contaminating or the state of being contaminated
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something that contaminates
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linguistics the process by which one word or phrase is altered because of mistaken associations with another word or phrase; for example, the substitution of irregardless for regardless by association with such words as irrespective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of contamination
1375–1425; late Middle English contaminacioun < Late Latin contāminātiōn- (stem of contāminātiō ), equivalent to contāmināt ( us ) ( see contaminate) + -iōn- -ion
Explanation
Contamination is the unwanted pollution of something by another substance. When a nuclear power plant leaks radiation into the atmosphere, for example, it causes a contamination of the surrounding area. Contamination can also be used to refer to abstract ideas and concepts rather than to just physical things. The French complain that the increasing adoption of English words is a contamination of their linguistic heritage, and many parents today think rap music is a contamination of the public culture.
Vocabulary lists containing contamination
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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:
That pattern was important because it indicated that the carbon was part of the original pigment rather than contamination left by later graffiti, visitors, or tourist activity inside the cave.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 28, 2026
The company has faced lawsuits from consumers and their survivors who claim J&J's talc products caused cancer due to contamination with asbestos.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
“Even when food is available for testing, contamination can be uneven, so a negative test does not necessarily rule a product out,” Rimoin said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
If you unwittingly order something with iceberg lettuce on it, such as a burger, physically removing the lettuce will reduce the risk of contamination, Shumaker said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Soils from apple orchards seem to reach the peak of contamination, with DDT accumulating at a rate that almost keeps pace with its rate of annual application.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
Nephew said if time was short, the U.S. could also seek to dilute the material on-site by mixing it with natural uranium or destroy it, although that could cause chemical contaminations in the area.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 15, 2026
The potential applications could include antimicrobial spray or coating to control foodborne pathogen contaminations at both pre-harvest and post-harvest stages, the researchers said.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 29, 2024
Flanked by Ohio lawmakers and officials from his agency, he stressed that the tests were accurate and had yet to show serious risks of contaminations.
From New York Times ● Feb. 16, 2023
Morocco on Saturday went so far as to ban all arrivals from China, regardless of nationality, “to avoid a new wave of contaminations in Morocco and all its consequences.”
From Washington Post ● Jan. 4, 2023
He was too wise a man not to know that one of the greatest burdens that wealth imposed, was the saving of one’s children from its contaminations.
From Philip Dru Administrator : a Story of Tomorrow 1920 - 1935 by House, Edward Mandell
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.
