POLLUTED Synonyms: 92 Similar and Opposite Words

polluted 1 of 2

adjective

as in contaminated

containing foreign or lower-grade substances called in to clean up the polluted stream

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

polluted

2 of 2

verb

past tense of pollute

as in poisoned

to make unfit for use by the addition of something harmful or undesirable outmoded factories polluting the air

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of polluted

Adjective

The standard medical terms clinicians rely on may become distorted or polluted. — Frank Naeymi-Rad, Forbes.com, 18 Aug. 2026 In 1990 the Missouri attorney general sued Industrial Wrecking for operating after its permit was suspended and allowing polluted water to flow into a drainage ditch. — Jack Harvel august 17, Kansas City Star, 17 Aug. 2026 Turner has pointed out that Santa Clara County, the heart of Silicon Valley, is among the most polluted places in America, while roughly a quarter of local families experience food insecurity. — Literary Hub, 10 Aug. 2026 And humans and our behaviors are one of the biggest reasons our river water becomes polluted. — Jaclyn Cosgrove, Los Angeles Times, 6 Aug. 2026 Historically, these communities have been displaced, or suffered from polluted air and water as a result—even long after the mines close. — Justin Worland, Time, 4 Aug. 2026 Kevin, now 67, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s about two and a half years ago and attributes his diagnosis to his polluted three-month post in the Persian Gulf. — Wuft News, Miami Herald, 29 July 2026 By late Thursday afternoon, Chicago had overtaken Detroit, Minneapolis and Toronto as the most polluted major city in the world, according to Swiss air quality company IQAir. — Finnegan Belleau, Chicago Tribune, 17 July 2026 Proliferation of automobiles and coal as an energy source combined with an absence of meaningful emission standards caused dangerously polluted air. — Rebecca Florsheim, STAT, 17 July 2026

Verb

Our state has thousands of sites already polluted with toxic chemicals and other pollutants, and those projects affect air quality, safe drinking water and community health for millions of Californians. — Shannon Olivieri Hovis, Mercury News, 18 Aug. 2026 Greenpeace Germany warned that oil has already polluted stretches of coastline and damaged the area's fragile ecosystem. — Stephen Sorace, FOXNews.com, 2 Aug. 2026 Stretches of coastline and the area’s sensitive marine ecosystem have been polluted and damaged. — ABC News, 1 Aug. 2026 Both lead to context getting polluted, eroding response quality at scale. — Chhaya Methani, Forbes.com, 28 July 2026 The same river that was savagely polluted by the mining industry, devastating the ancestral oasis of Quillagua. — Cristina Dorador, The Dial, 14 July 2026 But stars aren’t the only things that fail to show up when the sky is polluted with light; fireflies, those flashing, nostalgic symbols of summer, often skip the party too. — Evie Carrick, Travel + Leisure, 1 July 2026 Midland, Texas, is still cleaning up groundwater polluted by a leaking injection well more than two decades ago. — Nick Bowlin, ProPublica, 30 June 2026 As a result, many people living near Mavecure have gotten out of gold mining, which polluted the jungle rivers with mercury and sediment, to work as tour guides, operate restaurants and hostels, or sell arts and crafts. — John Otis, NPR, 30 May 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for polluted

Adjective

Your veterinarian may also recommend a bath to remove contaminated feces from its fur.

— Angela Haupt, Time, 12 Aug. 2026
Respiratory and neurological side effects can be symptoms in contaminated areas, which include headaches, tiredness, difficulty breathing and irritations of the eyes, nose and throat.

— Alexiah Syrai Olsen, Sacbee.com, 10 Aug. 2026

Definition of contaminated

Verb

Patterson was accused of pretending to eat the same portion, and of feigning illness in an elaborate ruse to suggest she’d also been poisoned.

— Hilary Whiteman, CNN Money, 20 Aug. 2026
For decades, many speculated Taylor had been poisoned with arsenic, as his sudden death happened during an intense political crisis over slavery.

— Sophie Clausen, PEOPLE, 17 Aug. 2026

Definition of poisoned

Adjective

For mild nausea, massage a few drops of diluted peppermint oil directly on the stomach.

— BestReviews, Chicago Tribune, 13 Aug. 2026
When leaders launch dozens of initiatives at once, accountability becomes diluted and teams struggle to distinguish the critical work from the merely urgent.

— Basant Singh, Forbes.com, 12 Aug. 2026

Definition of diluted

Verb

But the South Carolina Supreme Court overturned the murder convictions this May and ordered a retrial, saying Colleton County’s then-clerk tainted the first trial with what the defense said was prejudicial comments to the jury.

— Devon M. Sayers, CNN Money, 14 Aug. 2026
The political violence that tainted the Reconstruction and post-Reconstruction era clashes with traditional definitions of terrorism, which typically targets a power structure that such violence seeks to upend.

— Jacob Ware, The Conversation, 31 July 2026

Definition of tainted

Adjective

Finally, the third recruits seaweed to gather minerals that are otherwise too dilute to chase.

— New Atlas, New Atlas, 27 July 2026
Clean and disinfect your pruning shears between working on each plant by dipping them into a dilute 10% solution of chlorine bleach water or rubbing alcohol.

— Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 4 July 2026

Definition of dilute

Adjective

Ampadu signed for Chelsea from Exeter City in 2017, joining at the age of 16, but made only 12 appearances and had mixed experiences during loan spells at Sheffield United, RB Leipzig, Venezia and Spezia.

— Adam Crafton, New York Times, 18 Aug. 2026
Complex documents with tables, charts and mixed content need each content type scored separately, since a model can nail text while mangling a table.

— Sriram Bhargav Madhav, Forbes.com, 17 Aug. 2026

Definition of mixed

Adjective

Wise’s wistful songwriting is retained, but completely missing is his intentionally impure palette.

— Billie Bugara, Pitchfork, 7 Mar. 2026
Kanto practitioners believe that women cannot participate because, according to Japan's Shinto religion, women's blood from menstruation and childbirth is considered impure for the purpose of religious rituals.

— Anthony Kuhn, NPR, 3 Nov. 2025

Definition of impure

Browse Nearby Words

pollute

polluted

pollutes

See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

Style

“Polluted.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/polluted. Accessed 22 Aug. 2026.

Copy Citation

Synonyms of polluted

adjective

verb

Example Sentences

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster on polluted

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

august

Popular in Grammar & Usage

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

How to Pronounce the Trickiest Menu Items

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Do you 'say your piece' or 'say your peace'?

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Popular in Wordplay

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List

Even More Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

The Words of the Week - Aug. 21

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Popular

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List

Games & Quizzes