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
“Software vulnerabilities could be identified and exploited faster than firms were able to respond, leaving less time to detect, contain and remediate emerging threats.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 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
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
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
"It's an opportunity now for that land to be remediated for nature and the community."
From BBC ● Jun. 9, 2026
The Los Angeles Times collected soil samples in March 2025 and published the first evidence that already remediated home sites retained elevated levels of toxic substances.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2026
“And if there was a hostile environment, it seemed to have been remediated by the end of 2024 or even May or June for that matter.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 13, 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
This 2023 estimate from CalGEM is about three times higher than other parts of the state due to the complexity of sealing wells and remediating the surface in densely populated urban areas.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 11, 2025
The Resolution Foundation, an independent think-tank focused on improving the living standards of those on low-to-middle incomes, is urging the government to ensure that the costs of remediating hot homes are affordable.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2025
Many communities, like SeaTac, are now remediating their school routes.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 15, 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.
