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.
See Examples For:
The same is true for those trying to remediate unsafe buildings.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
"We are looking at environmental disasters like oil spills, and identifying ways to remediate them in faster, greener and more sustainable ways," Oran said.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 5, 2026
“What do we need to do to remediate this home where we can imagine safely putting these kids back in there?”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2025
Since the incident, F5 has been allocating many of its resources toward helping customers upgrade and remediate their software environments to ensure they’re protected, Locoh-Donou said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2025
Under the judicious application of cooling astringent collyria, and other remediate means, the irritation and pain of the parts were relieved, and the lids somewhat retracted.
From The Dog by Youatt, William
UK Energy Secretary Michael Shanks, who visited the site on Monday, said some of the properties would be able to be remediated, but "some will not".
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
The plan also pledges that by 2029, all buildings 36ft or above with unsafe cladding will either have been remediated, have a date for completion, or the landlords will be liable for severe penalties.
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026
Since he was having his mail forwarded to his office address while his home was being remediated, Sullivan wasn’t able to provide that until last month.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 16, 2026
It’s unclear if that property was also destroyed in the Palisades fire, and, if so, whether it had been already remediated.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 29, 2025
The student with severe prior knowledge deficits can usually be rapidly remediated by learning basic thinking skills first: for instance, the basic memorization techniques, note taking, outlining, and free association recall techniques.
From Sequential Problem Solving A Student Handbook with Checklists for Successful Critical Thinking by Lozo, Fredric
“Preventing future Mythos level attacks and remediating identified vulnerabilities requires the participation of the broader security industry, domain expertise, and deterministic detection, which Anthropic can’t deliver,” the analysts say.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 8, 2026
US officials added that any future aid would be "dependent on the Somali Federal Government taking accountability" and remediating the matter.
From Barron's ● Jan. 8, 2026
Sunderland City Council said it was "remediating the site in preparation for future investment" and would soon be procuring a contractor, with building work expected to start "later in the year".
From BBC ● Apr. 5, 2025
The exhibition will display documentation from the process, García’s mosaics made of soil and sculptures made of remediating materials.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 9, 2023
The tools look for more signals of malicious activity and automate many of the time-consuming tasks of investigating and remediating breaches.
From Seattle Times ● May 1, 2023
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.
