pollutant

noun pol·lut·ant \ pə-ˈlü-tᵊnt \

|Updated on: 13 Jun 2018

Examples: pollutant in a Sentence

Definition of pollutant

: something that pollutes

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Examples of pollutant in a Sentence

filtered the pollutants out of the water

Recent Examples of pollutant from the Web

About 360,000 Californians are served by water systems that violate state standards for nitrates, arsenic, uranium and other pollutants, according to a recent McClatchy investigation.

— dale kasler and adam ashton, sacbee, "California drinking water tax dies in budget compromise," 8 June 2018
Vog is a haze created when sulfur dioxide gas and other volcanic pollutants mix with moisture and dust.

— scott mclean, CNN, "Residents stranded with no power and water in area cut off by lava in Hawaii," 3 June 2018
The organisms had high levels of persistent organic pollutants, like PCBs and PBDE’s, chemicals used in industrial manufacturing as plasticizers, coolants and flame retardants.

— jason daley, Smithsonian, "Even the Deepest Parts of the Ocean Are Polluted With Startling Amounts of Plastic," 11 May 2018
With two small children, the couple was worried about pollutants like heavy metals and plastics in Phoenix’s aquifers, and who-knows-what leaching from their 80-year-old pipes into their tap water.

— jeff bercovici, WSJ, "The Upscale Way to Prepare for Doomsday—from $79,500 Teslas to $275 Jeans," 10 May 2018
Coal ash in Alabama will likely soon be regulated in the state just like many other pollutants.

— dennis pillion, AL.com, "Alabama passed state coal ash rules: What's in them?," 25 Apr. 2018
And last year, the European Space Agency launched the Sentinel-5p satellite, to monitor methane, ozone and other pollutants.

— james osborne, Houston Chronicle, "With satellite in development, environmentalists enter the space age," 11 Apr. 2018
Researchers said the rate of carbon dioxide accumulating in the atmosphere, especially when combined with other pollutants such as ozone and methane, could push global temperatures up by 1.5 to 3.5 degrees Celsius.

— scott waldman, Scientific American, "Shell Grappled With Climate Change 20 Years Ago, Documents Show," 5 Apr. 2018
The lightweight, non-greasy City Skin Age Defense SPF 50 uses a potent antioxidant called lutein, which not only shields skin from your phone and laptop's blue light, but also from atmospheric pollutants like PM's heavy metals and chemicals.

— georgia murray, refinery29.com, "How Anti-Pollution Skin Care Actually Works," 7 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'pollutant.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.