pollute

pol·lute

verb \pə-ˈlüt\

pol·lut·edpol·lut·ing

Definition of POLLUTE

transitive verb

1

a : to make ceremonially or morally impure : defile b : debase 1 <using language to deceive or mislead pollutes language — Linda C. Lederman>

2

a : to make physically impure or unclean : befoul, dirty b : to contaminate (an environment) especially with man-made waste

— pol·lut·er noun

— pol·lut·ive \-ˈlü-tiv\ adjective

Examples of POLLUTE

1. Miles of beaches were polluted by the oil spill.
2. Car exhaust pollutes the air.

Origin of POLLUTE

Middle English, from Latin pollutus, past participle of polluere, from por- (akin to Latin per through) + -luere (akin to Latin lutum mud, Greek lyma dirt, defilement) — more at for

First Known Use: 14th century

Related to POLLUTE

Synonyms: befoul, defile, foul, poison, contaminate, taint

Antonyms: decontaminate, purify

Related Words: infect; begrime, besmirch, blacken, dirty, foul up, grime, mire, muddy, smirch, smudge, soil, stain, sully; corrupt, rot, spoil; adulterate, doctor; dilute, water down

Near Antonyms: clarify, clean, cleanse, clear, distill (also distil), purge; filter; disinfect, sanitize, sterilize

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See Synonym Discussion at contaminate

Rhymes with POLLUTE

acute, astute, Asyût, bear fruit, beetroot, Beirut, birthroot, bloodroot, breadfruit, butut, cahoot, Canute, catsuit, cheroot, choucroute, clubroot, commute, compute, confute, crapshoot, cube root, deaf-mute, depute, dilute, dispute, dry suit, elute, en route, enroot, flight suit, folkmoot, freeboot, galoot, grapefruit, G suit, hardboot, hip boot, hirsute, imbrute, impute, jackboot, jackfruit, jumpsuit, kashruth, lawsuit, long suit, lounge suit, minute, nonsuit, offshoot, outshoot, Paiute, pantsuit, permute, playsuit, pursuit, recruit, refute, repute, salute, sans doute, seaboot, snowsuit, solute, square root, star fruit, star route, statute, strong suit, sunsuit, sweat suit, swimsuit, take root, taproot, to boot, tracksuit, trade route, transmute, tribute, uproot, volute, wet suit, zoot suit