cesspool
noun
cess·pool ˈses-ˌpül 
1
: an underground reservoir for liquid waste (such as household sewage)
2
: a filthy, evil, or corrupt place or state
a cesspool of corruption
Synonyms
- Augean stable
- Gomorrah
- sink
See all Synonyms & Antonyms 
Example Sentences
The region had become a cesspool of pollution. over the decades the once-respectable neighborhood had become an urban cesspool
Recent Examples on the Web But there’s one particularly dangerous element in this cesspool of fake news: the idea that climate change is a problem, but not an urgent one. 
Liza Featherstone, The New Republic, 15 June 2022 The early 2000s were a cesspool of tabloid headlines for celebrities like Lopez. Tomás Mier, Rolling Stone, 14 June 2022 Once again, the famed Monarchs football program appears to be a cesspool of arrogance, entitlement and callousness. Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 28 Apr. 2022 While Swimming With Sharks is quick to acknowledge that power relations in Tinseltown are a cesspool that poisons everything and everybody that comes through the Dream Factory, that’s not really what the show is about. Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 14 Apr. 2022 Her father, Dan Pazienza, runs a successful cesspool service company, and her parents live in Port Jefferson, an upscale suburb in Long Island. Rebecca Rosenberg, Fox News, 30 Mar. 2022 On social media, the typical cesspool was replaced by an ocean of goodwill. Eric Branch, San Francisco Chronicle, 11 Mar. 2022 His social media feeds are a cesspool of misogyny, bigotry and bizarre fringe conspiracy theories. Robert Gehrke, The Salt Lake Tribune, 8 Jan. 2022 Lana was skipping through the courtyard on dairy property near the Pleasant Valley Baptist Church one day in June 1951 when the ground beneath her gave way, swallowing her into a cesspool of raw sewage 35 feet below. Los Angeles Times, 21 Dec. 2021 See More
Liza Featherstone, The New Republic, 15 June 2022 The early 2000s were a cesspool of tabloid headlines for celebrities like Lopez. Tomás Mier, Rolling Stone, 14 June 2022 Once again, the famed Monarchs football program appears to be a cesspool of arrogance, entitlement and callousness. Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 28 Apr. 2022 While Swimming With Sharks is quick to acknowledge that power relations in Tinseltown are a cesspool that poisons everything and everybody that comes through the Dream Factory, that’s not really what the show is about. Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 14 Apr. 2022 Her father, Dan Pazienza, runs a successful cesspool service company, and her parents live in Port Jefferson, an upscale suburb in Long Island. Rebecca Rosenberg, Fox News, 30 Mar. 2022 On social media, the typical cesspool was replaced by an ocean of goodwill. Eric Branch, San Francisco Chronicle, 11 Mar. 2022 His social media feeds are a cesspool of misogyny, bigotry and bizarre fringe conspiracy theories. Robert Gehrke, The Salt Lake Tribune, 8 Jan. 2022 Lana was skipping through the courtyard on dairy property near the Pleasant Valley Baptist Church one day in June 1951 when the ground beneath her gave way, swallowing her into a cesspool of raw sewage 35 feet below. Los Angeles Times, 21 Dec. 2021 See More Word History
Etymology
perhaps by folk etymology from Middle English suspiral vent, tap on a main pipe, settling pool, from Anglo-French suspirale vent, from suspirer to sigh, exhale, from Latin suspirare, literally, to draw a long breath — more at suspire
First Known Use
1783, in the meaning defined at sense 1
cesspools
noun
as in sinks
a place of great vice and corruption over the decades the once-respectable neighborhood had become an urban cesspool Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
- sinks
- dumps
- holes
- pigsties
- hellholes
- pigpens
- dens
- Augean stables
- Gomorrahs
- tenderloins