polluting

adjective

pol·​lut·​ing pə-ˈlü-tiŋ 

: causing pollution

… a region that has been dependent upon basic industries such as coal mining and metal work—relatively polluting industries.

—Patricia L. Layman

The recycling process itself can be polluting. Recyclers find it difficult to separate recyclable from nonrecyclable plastics, which causes the end product to be useless.

—Sally Hayhow Cullen

Examples of polluting in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

And while the technology remains at the research stage, the work presents one of the more credible pathways yet proposed for dramatically reducing the environmental footprint of one of humanity’s most essential and most polluting industrial materials. —New Atlas, 26 May 2026

Shein is considered one, if not the most polluting fashion brands in the world. —Sharon Edelson, Forbes.com, 26 May 2026

Among the plants that are exempt are many of the midwestern and mid-Atlantic plants directly upwind from Connecticut, as well as several plants that are the most polluting plants in the country. —Stephen Underwood, Hartford Courant, 27 Apr. 2026

The renewable share of China’s energy mix is expanding at a rapid clip, with the aim to one day eclipse coal, even as China continues to lean heavily on the polluting fossil fuel to electrify its economy. —Simone McCarthy, CNN Money, 21 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1598, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for polluting

• commuting
• computing
• diluting
• disputing
• eluting
• imputing
• recruiting
• refuting
• rerouting
• saluting
• transmuting
• uprooting