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 of cesspool

• sink

Examples of cesspool in a Sentence

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

Gobler says the culprit is our area's warming waters and too much nitrogen, mostly from underground aging and leaking cesspools. —Carolyn Gusoff, CBS News, 22 Apr. 2026

The Kino offices are a cesspool with wan lighting and depraved employees who screw each other in the stairwells, presumably for a few sweaty seconds of feeling alive. —Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 9 Apr. 2026

Yet on war, peace and Iran, the insightful gut Trump claims to possess is looking more and more like a cesspool of adolescent-level judgment. —Daniel Depetris, Chicago Tribune, 31 Mar. 2026

These improvements amount to little more than empty symbolic gestures when our parks immediately revert to looking like cesspools. —Rafael Perez, Daily News, 16 Jan. 2026

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

Rhymes for cesspool

• ampoule
• bascule
• carpool
• ferrule
• footstool
• guayule
• lobule
• misrule
• preschool
• pustule
• whirlpool
• boule

Kids Definition

cesspool

noun

cess·​pool ˈses-ˌpül 

: an underground pit or tank for liquid waste (as household sewage)