remediate
Americanverb
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to remove or reduce (pollutants, harmful chemicals, etc.).
Water damage restoration experts mop up and dry out homes, remediate mold, decontaminate items, and repair damaged structures.
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to clean (air, soil, water, etc.) by removing or reducing pollutants, harmful chemicals, etc..
It could cost up to $10 billion to remediate the remaining 6.2 million acres of land and waters damaged by the abandoned mines.
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to lessen the effect of; ameliorate.
The university's agreement to remediate harm shall be considered an act of compassion and empathy, not an admission of guilt.
Etymology
Origin of remediate
Back formation from remediation ( def. )
Explanation
To remediate is to correct or make right. If you accidentally ran over your neighbor's bike with your car, you could remediate the bad situation by paying for the bike's repair. When you remediate some kind of damage or mistake, you repair it or set it straight. To remediate often means to make up for a lack of something, like when schools remediate students who have struggled in certain classes by giving them extra instruction after school. The origin of remediate goes back to the Latin word remedium, a cure, remedy, or medicine.
Vocabulary lists containing remediate
100 SAT words Beginning with "R"
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The Big Thirst
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Red, White & Royal Blue
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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.
Tighe said he had demonstrated a "deep-seated and ongoing attitudinal issue" and there had been no "insight or efforts to remediate".
From BBC • Jan. 14, 2026
After the Cuyahoga River was badly damaged by runaway industrialization, its multidecade cleanup effort required new technologies to monitor and remediate its water quality.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 2, 2026
Separately, Regrow Altadena offers mugwort, which can help remediate soil.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 6, 2025
"Despite recent directors and a new management company's best efforts to remediate, the failures that have been exposed are far too great," she said.
From BBC • Jul. 21, 2025
Cordelia's agonised invocation and summons to the unpublished forces of nature, to be aidant and remediate to the good man's distress, is continually echoed by the poet, but with a broader application.
From The Philosophy of the Plays of Shakspere Unfolded by Bacon, Delia
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.
