contamination
Americannoun
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contaminations
plural
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the act of contaminating, or of making something impure or unsuitable by contact with something unclean, bad, etc.
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the act of contaminating, or of rendering something harmful or unusable by the addition of radioactive material.
the contamination of food following a nuclear attack.
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the state of being contaminated.
The manufacturer recalled the product because of possible salmonella contamination.
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Rare. something that contaminates a place or substance, as by making it impure, unsuitable, harmful, or unusable; a contaminant.
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Linguistics.
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an alternation in a linguistic form due to the influence of a related form, as the replacement in English of earlier femelle with female through the influence of male.
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the process of forming blends.
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noun
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the act or process of contaminating or the state of being contaminated
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something that contaminates
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linguistics the process by which one word or phrase is altered because of mistaken associations with another word or phrase; for example, the substitution of irregardless for regardless by association with such words as irrespective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of contamination
1375–1425; late Middle English contaminacioun < Late Latin contāminātiōn- (stem of contāminātiō ), equivalent to contāmināt ( us ) ( see contaminate) + -iōn- -ion
Explanation
Contamination is the unwanted pollution of something by another substance. When a nuclear power plant leaks radiation into the atmosphere, for example, it causes a contamination of the surrounding area. Contamination can also be used to refer to abstract ideas and concepts rather than to just physical things. The French complain that the increasing adoption of English words is a contamination of their linguistic heritage, and many parents today think rap music is a contamination of the public culture.
Vocabulary lists containing contamination
This Week in Words: March 23–29, 2019
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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:
In a post on social media, the attraction confirmed that work is still underway to address the oil contamination and that a number of pens remain out of bounds.
From BBC ● Nov. 9, 2026
The results raised long-standing concerns over the quality of work and whether the lingering contamination could present risks to the residents.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026
Another report into ground and surface water found contamination was "widespread" at the site, with all samples exceeding environmental standards.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026
However, the researchers emphasize that their findings should not be interpreted as evidence that Chornobyl's radioactive contamination is becoming harmless.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 23, 2026
The longer the food remains in storage, the greater the danger of contamination.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
Nephew said if time was short, the U.S. could also seek to dilute the material on-site by mixing it with natural uranium or destroy it, although that could cause chemical contaminations in the area.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 15, 2026
The potential applications could include antimicrobial spray or coating to control foodborne pathogen contaminations at both pre-harvest and post-harvest stages, the researchers said.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 29, 2024
Flanked by Ohio lawmakers and officials from his agency, he stressed that the tests were accurate and had yet to show serious risks of contaminations.
From New York Times ● Feb. 16, 2023
“We had a jump in contaminations since the beginning of January, tripling the number of people infected,” Pazuello said Tuesday.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 27, 2021
This was a concession to the prudence of parents, who feared all manner of contaminations from any communication between their children and such miserables.
From The Lost Lady of Lone by Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth
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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.
