pollute
/pəˈluːt
/verb [with object]
1Contaminate (water, the air, etc.) with harmful or poisonous substances: the explosion polluted the town with dioxin (as adjective polluted) the Mersey is one of Europe’s most polluted rivers...
- The same giant livestock facilities that pollute our air and water are also the perfect breeding grounds for super-tough microbes.
- Intensive use of pesticides and fertilizers seriously pollutes our water, soil, and air.
- A factory polluting your air or water supply is a typical example of one.
Synonyms
contaminate, adulterate, taint, poison, befoul, foul, dirty, soil, blight, make filthy, infect
1.1Defile or corrupt: a society polluted by racism...
- Yet corruption pollutes society by lowering the authority of public office, and it lowers economic efficiency by destroying the principle of fair competition and imposes unnecessary costs on the private sector.
- On the other hand, his ability to corrupt and pollute the moral atmosphere of the earth, should he pervert his way, is greater than anyone else's.
- The condemned is reduced to a body to be kept and then eliminated in a ‘ritual expulsion of that which pollutes and defiles’.
Synonyms
corrupt, poison, warp, pervert, deprave, defile, blight, debauch, sully, besmirch, desecrate, violate
Origin
Late Middle English: from Latin pollut- 'soiled, defiled', from the verb polluere, based on the root of lutum 'mud'.
Pollute is from Latin polluere ‘to soil, defile’, formed from lutum ‘mud’.