as in sink
a place of great vice and corruption
over the decades the once-respectable neighborhood had become an urban cesspool
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Recent Examples of cesspool
The United States' 20-year attempt to stand up democracy in Afghanistan descended into a cesspool of corruption and squandered as much as $29.2 billion in waste, fraud and abuse in pursuit of unrealistic goals, according to a government watchdog report released on Dec. 3.
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Cybele Mayes-Osterman, USA Today, 3 Dec. 2025
Use soap on your water bottle In 2017, a team of researchers tested 90 reusable water bottles from a Midwestern college campus and determined that the portable drinking vessel can be a cesspool of pathogens.
—The Washington Post, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 Oct. 2025
At worst, as an antisemitic and anti-American cesspool.
—Andreas Kluth, Mercury News, 26 Sep. 2025
Social media has arguably become even more of a cesspool of hate since the Sept. 10 attack, with extremists flooding news feeds celebrating Kirk's killing and others calling for civil war.
—Marlene Lenthang, NBC news, 21 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cesspool
Cybele Mayes-Osterman, USA Today, 3 Dec. 2025
Use soap on your water bottle In 2017, a team of researchers tested 90 reusable water bottles from a Midwestern college campus and determined that the portable drinking vessel can be a cesspool of pathogens.
—The Washington Post, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 Oct. 2025
At worst, as an antisemitic and anti-American cesspool.
—Andreas Kluth, Mercury News, 26 Sep. 2025
Social media has arguably become even more of a cesspool of hate since the Sept. 10 attack, with extremists flooding news feeds celebrating Kirk's killing and others calling for civil war.
—Marlene Lenthang, NBC news, 21 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cesspool
Cite this Entry
“Cesspool.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cesspool. Accessed 27 Apr. 2026.
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