sewage
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of sewage
Explanation
The waste water that flows down drains and through pipes from toilets and sinks is called sewage. There's nothing quite like smelling sewage on a hot summer day. Have you ever wondered where the soapy, dirty water from your washing machine goes after your clothes are clean? It flows down the drain into a pipe, and is carried with other sewage out to the street and your city's wastewater system, or into a private septic tank. Sewage comes from the now-obsolete verb sew, "to drain or draw off water."
Vocabulary lists containing sewage
The Omnivore's Dilemma
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for June 8–June 14, 2025
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Unit 9, Week 3
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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.
More than 1,000 tonnes of "sewage sludge" have been seen at a landfill site near Doncaster, according to an MP for the town.
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026
Long Beach Utilities rerouted the sewage flow with a bypass line and called in emergency contractor Ocean Blue to assist with spill cleanup efforts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2026
Neither book argues for a return to the olfactory world of the past, and surely nobody wants streets where sewage runs in the gutters and rivers are fouled by industrial waste.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
The report also acknowledges sewage is still being discharged into the sea at Peel and in Garff, though work on a new treatment works for Peel began last year.
From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2026
They moved along the track, skirting the wretched shanties and the pools of sewage, and watching the never-ending stream of ghosts arriving and passing without hindrance into the town itself.
From "The Amber Spyglass" by Philip Pullman
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
