as in contaminated
containing foreign or lower-grade substances
called in to clean up the polluted stream
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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
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Recent Examples of polluted
Dallas Morning News, 3 Feb. 2026
Water from the Yamuna – considered sacred and worshipped by millions – has become so polluted by ammonia from industrial waste that water plants have been unable to treat it.
—Rhea Mogul, CNN Money, 1 Feb. 2026
Outdoor air quality and temperature are key—clean, cool air can help, but polluted or overly dry air can hinder sleep.
—Caroline Lubinsky, Martha Stewart, 31 Jan. 2026
The Saturn Boulevard hotspot, where polluted water churns through concrete culverts, has been identified as the epicenter of the Tijuana River Valley air pollution crisis in the South Bay.
—Walker Armstrong, San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 Jan. 2026
Beyond the polluted information environment sits the population-level psychological harm that can be equally, if not more damaging to society.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 29 Jan. 2026
The grants are expected to help clean up 75 acres of polluted lands and create 1,500 housing units, in addition to new school spaces and commercial areas.
—Frederick Melo, Twin Cities, 27 Jan. 2026
As to the environment, white phosphorus destroyed fruit, vegetable and olive harvests, burned agricultural lands and left them polluted.
—Josiane Yazbeck, The Conversation, 22 Jan. 2026
The American Lung Association, in April 2025, announced that Hoosiers are breathing some of the nation’s most polluted air, according to Post-Tribune archives.
—Maya Wilkins, Chicago Tribune, 21 Jan. 2026
Mike Bianchi, The Orlando Sentinel, 31 Jan. 2026
In November, detainees at the facility sued, alleging the facility is polluted by sewage leaks and insect infestations, and that detainees can’t get proper medical attention for life-threatening conditions.
—Calmatters, Oc Register, 21 Jan. 2026
About 90 years ago, American farmers in the Great Plains had so ravaged the thin soil there that a series of droughts turned the region into a vast expanse of dust, which formed monstrous storms and polluted the skies in cities hundreds of miles away.
—Mark Gongloff, Mercury News, 17 Jan. 2026
Highways, viaducts, giant interchanges, and a major Metro junction viciously mutilated São Paulo’s downtown in the 1960s and ’70s, demoting it from a popular residential area to a commercial transfer hub, overcrowded and polluted by day but forlorn by night.
—Michaëla De Lacaze Mohrmann, Artforum, 1 Jan. 2026
Their natural environment is being polluted and burned down, and people still hunt them for their meat.
—Maria Azzurra Volpe, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Nov. 2025
If it’s harvested from an area that’s been polluted, there’s a possibility it could be contaminated with unsafe minerals like mercury or arsenic.
—Caroline C. Boyle, USA Today, 4 Nov. 2025
He was reared in an environment polluted with drugs, gangs and violence.
—Grethel Aguila, Miami Herald, 30 Oct. 2025
That includes farmers who have had sludge from water treatment plants spread on their land containing PFAS, fire departments, airports and municipalities, people who own land that was polluted by PFAS originating from another nearby property or waste facilities that accepted PFAS.
—Laura Schulte, jsonline.com, 17 Oct. 2025
Adjective
Caleb Roberts, the director of Downwinders at Risk, said once again, the most vulnerable and polluted communities are left behind.
—Dallas Morning News, 3 Feb. 2026
Water from the Yamuna – considered sacred and worshipped by millions – has become so polluted by ammonia from industrial waste that water plants have been unable to treat it.
—Rhea Mogul, CNN Money, 1 Feb. 2026
Outdoor air quality and temperature are key—clean, cool air can help, but polluted or overly dry air can hinder sleep.
—Caroline Lubinsky, Martha Stewart, 31 Jan. 2026
The Saturn Boulevard hotspot, where polluted water churns through concrete culverts, has been identified as the epicenter of the Tijuana River Valley air pollution crisis in the South Bay.
—Walker Armstrong, San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 Jan. 2026
Beyond the polluted information environment sits the population-level psychological harm that can be equally, if not more damaging to society.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 29 Jan. 2026
The grants are expected to help clean up 75 acres of polluted lands and create 1,500 housing units, in addition to new school spaces and commercial areas.
—Frederick Melo, Twin Cities, 27 Jan. 2026
As to the environment, white phosphorus destroyed fruit, vegetable and olive harvests, burned agricultural lands and left them polluted.
—Josiane Yazbeck, The Conversation, 22 Jan. 2026
The American Lung Association, in April 2025, announced that Hoosiers are breathing some of the nation’s most polluted air, according to Post-Tribune archives.
—Maya Wilkins, Chicago Tribune, 21 Jan. 2026
Verb
Public spaces are routinely polluted by blaring music packed with profanity and racial slurs, and no one thinks twice about it.
—Mike Bianchi, The Orlando Sentinel, 31 Jan. 2026
In November, detainees at the facility sued, alleging the facility is polluted by sewage leaks and insect infestations, and that detainees can’t get proper medical attention for life-threatening conditions.
—Calmatters, Oc Register, 21 Jan. 2026
About 90 years ago, American farmers in the Great Plains had so ravaged the thin soil there that a series of droughts turned the region into a vast expanse of dust, which formed monstrous storms and polluted the skies in cities hundreds of miles away.
—Mark Gongloff, Mercury News, 17 Jan. 2026
Highways, viaducts, giant interchanges, and a major Metro junction viciously mutilated São Paulo’s downtown in the 1960s and ’70s, demoting it from a popular residential area to a commercial transfer hub, overcrowded and polluted by day but forlorn by night.
—Michaëla De Lacaze Mohrmann, Artforum, 1 Jan. 2026
Their natural environment is being polluted and burned down, and people still hunt them for their meat.
—Maria Azzurra Volpe, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Nov. 2025
If it’s harvested from an area that’s been polluted, there’s a possibility it could be contaminated with unsafe minerals like mercury or arsenic.
—Caroline C. Boyle, USA Today, 4 Nov. 2025
He was reared in an environment polluted with drugs, gangs and violence.
—Grethel Aguila, Miami Herald, 30 Oct. 2025
That includes farmers who have had sludge from water treatment plants spread on their land containing PFAS, fire departments, airports and municipalities, people who own land that was polluted by PFAS originating from another nearby property or waste facilities that accepted PFAS.
—Laura Schulte, jsonline.com, 17 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for polluted
Adjective
-
Leptospirosis can also be found in contaminated water or soil and is spread by rodents.—
Michele Laufik,
Martha Stewart,
30 Jan. 2026
-
Dealing with repairs because of the contaminated gas?—
Katie Langford,
Denver Post,
15 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
Last year, though, the Anthropic team inadvertently poisoned its own well by allowing the Jones Foods experiment, in which Claude faked its way through retraining, into the data set.—
Gideon Lewis-Kraus,
New Yorker,
9 Feb. 2026
-
Spanish was the primary language for more than 60% of people poisoned, according to the health department.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
8 Feb. 2026
Verb
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That means every angle needs to be screen-ready and not tainted by equipment, crew or the director.—
John Wenzel,
Denver Post,
11 Feb. 2026
-
The entire imbroglio proved hugely damaging, not only to Boohoo but also the Leicester garment industry, which was already struggling to cope with the manufacturing shift overseas before the fear of being tainted by scandal led its remaining buyers to flee en masse.—
Jasmin Malik Chua,
Sourcing Journal,
11 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Even diluted bleach is a strong chemical to be using in your flower vase water.—
Peg Aloi,
The Spruce,
11 Feb. 2026
-
This is done by scrubbing the feeder and its parts with mind soap and water, then soaking it in a diluted bleach solution.—
Madeline Buiano,
Martha Stewart,
5 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Second, a dilute hydrochloric acid is used to dissolve the remaining lithium and the transition metals—nickel, cobalt, and manganese.—
Aman Tripathi,
Interesting Engineering,
12 Oct. 2025
-
For example, Wilson’s team is exploring whether dilute acids speed up weathering.—
Robert F. Service,
Science | AAAS,
3 Sep. 2020
Adjective
-
The company in 2020 pleaded guilty to distributing adulterated ice-cream products and agreed to pay a fine over the outbreak.—
Dylan Tokar,
WSJ,
2 Feb. 2023
-
And while most of those overdoses involved the illicit synthetic opioid fentanyl, experts say that an adulterated and contaminated drug supply is also leading to deaths.—
Nadia Kounang,
CNN,
17 Mar. 2022
Adjective
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The morning after her whirlwind day, Johnson talked to TIME about her life-changing Games, the mixed emotions of winning a downhill on the same day teammate Lindsey Vonn broke her leg in a scary crash, and her ski-racing future.—
Sean Gregory,
Time,
13 Feb. 2026
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She is widely regarded as Britain’s first Black supermodel of mixed heritage.—
Zac Ntim,
Deadline,
13 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
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
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Their inclusion underlines the wider context of the film, provoking the audience to hold these pure and impure images together.—
Jourdain Searles,
HollywoodReporter,
28 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Polluted.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/polluted. Accessed 16 Feb. 2026.
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