as in cleans
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.
Related Words
Relevance
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for decontaminates
Verb
-
This will prevent things from getting out of hand, making your deep cleans much more manageable.—
Molly Burford,
Southern Living,
8 Mar. 2026 -
The facility, which would be a double unit, cleans after each use and deep cleans every hour, and is set to be open year-round.—
Molly Morrow,
Chicago Tribune,
3 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
In the first part of the two-episode finale, audiences are introduced to Bella (Emma Halleen), a perfectly normal high school student who watches as The Beauty craze sweeps through her world.—
Hunter Ingram,
Variety,
5 Mar. 2026
-
At the Veterans of Foreign Wars post, Commander Tommy Nester finds it behind the ceiling panels, brushes it off the uniforms that aren’t behind glass and sweeps it from the baseboards of the main hall.—
Sarah Henry,
AZCentral.com,
1 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
Unless a Nest user subscribes to a service that allows for quick access to review footage recorded on a device, Google routinely purges the footage rather than retain it indefinitely, said Stacey Higginbotham, a policy fellow at Consumer Reports who specializes in cybersecurity issues.—
Safiyah Riddle,
Chicago Tribune,
11 Feb. 2026
-
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
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.
Cite this Entry
“Decontaminates.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/decontaminates. Accessed 14 Mar. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
