forever chemical

noun

plural forever chemicals

: a toxic substance and especially a synthetic chemical (as of the per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances group) that persists and accumulates in the environment

—not used technically

Canadian researchers have discovered high levels of a "forever chemical", used in making toilet paper, in the bodies of endangered killer whales, sparking fears the toxic substance could further harm them.

—Leyland Ceccoin

Landfills, military bases and firefighting training centers also are thought to be sources of forever chemical pollution.

—Sammy Fretwell

—often used in plural

PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are colloquially known as "forever chemicals" because they are so difficult to break down.

—Layne Cameron

Forever chemicals are used as surface treatments to block water and stains. In fact, a 2022 report by Toxic-Free Future, an environmental health research and advocacy organization, found that nearly three-quarters of products labeled as water- or stain-resistant tested positive for them.

—Hannah Norman

PFAS, a group of manufactured chemicals commonly used since the 1940s, are called "forever chemicals" for a reason. Bacteria can't eat them; fire can't incinerate them; and water can't dilute them.

—Amanda Morris

Van Zile said many people love a Wisconsin Friday fish fry, but many fish are found with high levels of forever chemicals, such as mercury, and that we're slowly poisoning ourselves.

—Frank Vaisvilas

Examples of forever chemical in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

And, of course, those are subject to regulation under the Clean Water Act and historically set standards that the EPA can address pollutants in our drinking water, including forever chemicals known as PFAS. —CBS News, 20 Apr. 2025

On Tuesday, the university said the USDA had frozen funding that could affect research on everything from the contamination of Maine farms by forever chemicals to the sustainability of Maine’s lobster industry. —Jennifer Smith Richards, ProPublica, 11 Mar. 2025

Related article Scientists discover concerning new source of ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water The NIH and White House did not respond to ProPublica’s request for comment. —Annie Waldman and Sharon Lerner, CNN Money, 26 Mar. 2025

The board now wants to figure out if fire-fighting foams, which contain the forever chemical, were a significant source of a massive subsurface plume of those substances. —Kyle Martin, The Mercury News, 25 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

2010, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for forever chemical

• electrochemical
• immunochemical
• physicochemical
• physiochemical
• radiochemical
• stereochemical
• academical
• agrochemical
• biochemical
• cytochemical
• geochemical
• histochemical