wastewater

noun

waste·​wa·​ter ˈwāst-ˌwȯ-tər 

-ˌwä-

: water that has been used (as in a manufacturing process) : sewage

Examples of wastewater in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

For instance, in the Florida Keys, the discovery that a bacterium found in human wastewater was behind white pox disease in elkhorn coral led to sewage system upgrades. —JSTOR Daily, 17 Oct. 2025

For decades, leaders looked the other way as the Tijuana River Valley filled with trash, sediment and untreated wastewater. —Paloma Aguirre, San Diego Union-Tribune, 16 Oct. 2025

Unfortunately, conventional wastewater systems are not equipped to eliminate such resilient molecules. —Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 15 Oct. 2025

Gaza’s fuel shortage, caused by Israel’s blockade of the territory, led to the shutdown of essential infrastructure such as water and wastewater treatment necessary for environmental and public health. —Simmone Shah, Time, 15 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for wastewater

• annunciator
• imprimatur
• underwater
• backwater
• bathwater
• blackwater
• breakwater
• deepwater
• edgewater
• feedwater
• floodwater
• freshwater