as in cleaning
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 decontaminating
Among our responsibilities was decontaminating people and equipment after exposure to hazardous materials.
—
Jennifer N. Pritzker, Chicago Tribune, 22 Mar. 2026
Radiation protection personnel allegedly responded to the incident quickly, pulling the worker from the water and decontaminating him safely.
—Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 24 Oct. 2025
Jennifer N. Pritzker, Chicago Tribune, 22 Mar. 2026
Radiation protection personnel allegedly responded to the incident quickly, pulling the worker from the water and decontaminating him safely.
—Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 24 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for decontaminating
Verb
-
Make deck cleaning part of your mowing routine.—
Megan Hughes,
Better Homes & Gardens,
6 June 2026
-
How To Deep Clean Marble Countertops For deep cleaning your marble countertops, Scheck recommends sticking to the gentle cleaners made for natural stone, and just take a little extra time with your cleaning routine.—
Daley Quinn,
Southern Living,
6 June 2026
Verb
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Here was a symbolic way of purging Hindu society of untouchability.—
Wyatt Williams,
Harpers Magazine,
2 June 2026
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The data shows that black and brown people spend much longer time, in longer lines, purging people, people literally showing up and not knowing that their names have been purged from the rolls.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
4 May 2026
Verb
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The Rockies, who beat San Francisco 8-6 on Friday night on a walk-off homer by Ezequiel Tovar, clinched their first series win since sweeping the Mets from April 24-29 in New York.—
Patrick Saunders,
Denver Post,
31 May 2026
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The 17-year-old arrived in Clovis after sweeping all three of her events at the Southern Section championships.—
Marisa Ingemi,
Los Angeles Times,
31 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Decontaminating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/decontaminating. Accessed 7 Jun. 2026.
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