as in to clean
to remove dirty or dangerous substances (such as radioactive material) from (a person, thing, place, etc.)
Special workers were called in to decontaminate the area after the oil spill.
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Recent Examples of decontaminate
People covered in jet fuel were also decontaminated before being treated.
—
Gabrielle Rockson, People.com, 3 July 2025
Patterson warns that people should not touch bats and should be sure to decontaminate after visiting bat habitat to avoid spreading it.
—Shelly Bradbury, Denver Post, 27 June 2025
Two people were taken to the hospital and hundreds of employees at a medical technology company in North Canaan were decontaminated on Thursday when a suspicious package at the facility was found, prompting an investigation by state and federal authorities.
—Justin Muszynski, Hartford Courant, 16 May 2025
Also, the robots will need to be decontaminated, and nobody is going to want to have to deal with some sort of special, gentle, robot-friendly decontamination procedure.
—IEEE Spectrum, 13 Nov. 2014
See All Example Sentences for decontaminate
Gabrielle Rockson, People.com, 3 July 2025
Patterson warns that people should not touch bats and should be sure to decontaminate after visiting bat habitat to avoid spreading it.
—Shelly Bradbury, Denver Post, 27 June 2025
Two people were taken to the hospital and hundreds of employees at a medical technology company in North Canaan were decontaminated on Thursday when a suspicious package at the facility was found, prompting an investigation by state and federal authorities.
—Justin Muszynski, Hartford Courant, 16 May 2025
Also, the robots will need to be decontaminated, and nobody is going to want to have to deal with some sort of special, gentle, robot-friendly decontamination procedure.
—IEEE Spectrum, 13 Nov. 2014
See All Example Sentences for decontaminate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for decontaminate
Verb
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Doctors struggle to access complete patient histories, researchers spend months cleaning inconsistent datasets, and hospitals face spiraling costs just to keep outdated systems running.—
Matthew Kayser,
USA Today,
12 Sep. 2025
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Here are nine things that can be cleaned in 10 minutes or less.—
Melissa Locker,
Southern Living,
11 Sep. 2025
Verb
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And the arbitrator directed the city to wipe Biscari’s personnel record clean of any reference to the crash.—
Judy L. Thomas,
Kansas City Star,
9 Sep. 2025
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To keep things clean, try to wipe the outside of your cabinets once a week.—
Zoe Gowen,
Southern Living,
9 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Violence and vitriol must be purged from the public square.—
Harrison Mantas,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
10 Sep. 2025
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Unless the Heat releases Terry Rozier or purges some other salary in a trade, Miami would not have enough space to sign a 15th player to a standard contract — and remain under the luxury tax line — until December.—
Barry Jackson,
Miami Herald,
9 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Over a 10-month period, our editors—all with vastly different preferences for coverage, finish, and format—buffed and blended (and swept and stippled) their way through about 650 submissions.—
Sophia Panych,
Allure,
16 Sep. 2025
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Waves of trilobite extinctions swept the oceans, and an ancient planet better known for its explosion of life now saw the ambition of this frenzied new animal world periodically stifled under a high-CO2 hothouse.—
Peter Brannen,
Quanta Magazine,
15 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Decontaminate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/decontaminate. Accessed 18 Sep. 2025.
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