sanitation
Americannoun
-
the development and application of sanitary measures for the sake of cleanliness, protecting health, etc.
-
the disposal of sewage and solid waste.
noun
Etymology
Origin of sanitation
First recorded in 1840–50; sanit(ary) + -ation
Explanation
Sanitation has to do with making things clean, especially by sterilizing. Have you ever used hand sanitizer to make sure your hands are germ-free? Then you should have an idea what sanitation is: making something clean (sanitary). Sanitation workers pick up your garbage, keeping your neighborhood clean. Sanitation is important in restaurants and also for surgical instruments. You wouldn't want a surgeon to touch you with an instrument that hadn't gone through sanitation, because it would probably have germs.
Vocabulary lists containing sanitation
Africa - Introductory
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Africa - Middle School
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Africa - High School
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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.
After leading a technological upgrade for the NYPD, Ms. Tisch landed her “dream job” as sanitation commissioner and did to the city’s rat population what she has lately been doing to street crime.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
Councilmember Monica Rodriguez said that as the license plate reader technology is adopted by other, non-police agencies such as sanitation and street services, the city needs a universal policy governing its use.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
Then we needed to upload fire and sanitation inspection reports.
From Salon ● Oct. 4, 2026
There are bigger, structural issues that make these events worse and which take much longer to resolve such as "housing in exposed areas, fragile water and sanitation systems, and a weak healthcare system", he said.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
If the rise of farming was thus a bonanza for our microbes, the rise of cities was a greater one, as still more densely packed human populations festered under even worse sanitation conditions.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
