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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of polluted
Dan Morrison, USA Today, 7 Nov. 2025
Instead of adding external chemicals or excavating polluted layers, the soil itself becomes a dynamic system capable of regenerating its quality over time.
—Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 24 Oct. 2025
Around 20 million people in New Delhi woke up today breathing the most polluted air of any major city in the world, a day after celebrations for the Diwali festival.
—Alexandra Banner, CNN Money, 22 Oct. 2025
Authorities add that polluted water, marine debris, and unstable cliffs may also pose hazards, according to a webpage from the National Park Service (NPS).
—Anna Skinner, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 Oct. 2025
But perhaps most significantly, these changes may be linked to cyanobacteria, toxic microbes often found in polluted waters.
—Pranjal Malewar, New Atlas, 14 Oct. 2025
Legislators passed a nonbinding resolution to return a parcel by a shopping mall in Syracuse, but that area turned out to be too polluted.
—Eva Roytburg, Fortune, 11 Oct. 2025
The polluted site will be made safe with an 18-inch surface cover of clean soil over a demarcation barrier.
—Jc Reindl, Freep.com, 9 Oct. 2025
Part of the environmental movement in the seventies and eighties was that these water bodies, Santa Monica Bay was too polluted to swim in.
—Outside Online, 1 Oct. 2025
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
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, women in cobalt-mining regions have reported reproductive-health concerns such as miscarriages and birth defects; cobalt mining has also polluted croplands.
—Scott W. Stern, The Atlantic, 2 Oct. 2025
Directed by series veteran David Silverman, the movie’s plot saw Springfield being confined under a massive glass dome after Homer accidentally polluted the town’s lake.
—Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 29 Sep. 2025
The story there was that Homer had accidentally polluted the town's water supply, and the Simpson family members were declared fugitives by the Environmental Protection Agency.
—Raechal Shewfelt, Entertainment Weekly, 29 Sep. 2025
The area is significantly polluted with DDT, a chemical used as an insecticide that was banned in 1972.
—Maura Fox, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Sep. 2025
The Grand Calumet River and Indiana Harbor Ship Canal — located in East Chicago — were polluted from more than a century of industrial and municipal wastewater discharges, and caused multiple grassroots organizations to advocate for cleanup measures along the river.
—Maya Wilkins, Chicago Tribune, 26 Aug. 2025
Adjective
Instead of this stuff that's raised overseas that's done in ways that doesn't have any checks, that it's got polluted water, it's being fed really nasty stuff, full of antibiotics, full of chemicals.
—Dan Morrison, USA Today, 7 Nov. 2025
Instead of adding external chemicals or excavating polluted layers, the soil itself becomes a dynamic system capable of regenerating its quality over time.
—Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 24 Oct. 2025
Around 20 million people in New Delhi woke up today breathing the most polluted air of any major city in the world, a day after celebrations for the Diwali festival.
—Alexandra Banner, CNN Money, 22 Oct. 2025
Authorities add that polluted water, marine debris, and unstable cliffs may also pose hazards, according to a webpage from the National Park Service (NPS).
—Anna Skinner, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 Oct. 2025
But perhaps most significantly, these changes may be linked to cyanobacteria, toxic microbes often found in polluted waters.
—Pranjal Malewar, New Atlas, 14 Oct. 2025
Legislators passed a nonbinding resolution to return a parcel by a shopping mall in Syracuse, but that area turned out to be too polluted.
—Eva Roytburg, Fortune, 11 Oct. 2025
The polluted site will be made safe with an 18-inch surface cover of clean soil over a demarcation barrier.
—Jc Reindl, Freep.com, 9 Oct. 2025
Part of the environmental movement in the seventies and eighties was that these water bodies, Santa Monica Bay was too polluted to swim in.
—Outside Online, 1 Oct. 2025
Verb
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
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, women in cobalt-mining regions have reported reproductive-health concerns such as miscarriages and birth defects; cobalt mining has also polluted croplands.
—Scott W. Stern, The Atlantic, 2 Oct. 2025
Directed by series veteran David Silverman, the movie’s plot saw Springfield being confined under a massive glass dome after Homer accidentally polluted the town’s lake.
—Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 29 Sep. 2025
The story there was that Homer had accidentally polluted the town's water supply, and the Simpson family members were declared fugitives by the Environmental Protection Agency.
—Raechal Shewfelt, Entertainment Weekly, 29 Sep. 2025
The area is significantly polluted with DDT, a chemical used as an insecticide that was banned in 1972.
—Maura Fox, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Sep. 2025
The Grand Calumet River and Indiana Harbor Ship Canal — located in East Chicago — were polluted from more than a century of industrial and municipal wastewater discharges, and caused multiple grassroots organizations to advocate for cleanup measures along the river.
—Maya Wilkins, Chicago Tribune, 26 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for polluted
Adjective
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McKinney’s company was recently suspended from the city's demolition program for allegedly filling sites with contaminated dirt obtained from the redevelopment of Northland Mall.—
Violet Ikonomova,
Freep.com,
5 Nov. 2025
-
The new advisory follows recent testing in eastern Kennebec and western Waldo counties, which showed that deer and turkey sampled from areas near contaminated soil had PFAS concentrations in muscle tissue high enough to warrant a public health warning.—
Anna Skinner,
MSNBC Newsweek,
4 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
Notions had persisted that Brahe was poisoned to death with mercury, but later analyses of his bones and teeth disproved the idea.—
Scott Lafee,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
4 Nov. 2025
-
There’s often an arch detachment where the singer tries to pretend as though they haven’t actually been poisoned by being online themselves.—
Fran Hoepfner,
Vulture,
30 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The lawsuit seeks restitution, punitive damages, and a court order requiring Spotify to disclose whether Discovery Mode is tainted by money or royalty deals.—
Daniel Kreps,
Rolling Stone,
5 Nov. 2025
-
From the very start, hope around the target was tainted by doubt.—
Sophie Yeo,
The Dial,
4 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
Net profit fell to $51 million, or 40 cents per diluted share, from $189 million in the year-earlier quarter.—
Jill Goldsmith,
Deadline,
5 Nov. 2025
-
If peppers bloom, hand-pollinate the flowers with an old makeup brush, and lightly feed your plants with a diluted application of organic liquid fertilizer.—
Lauren Landers,
Better Homes & Gardens,
4 Nov. 2025
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
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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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Participants can sculpt with air-dry clay, paint on canvas, or craft a collage or mixed-media piece such as a design vision board.—
Staff Author,
Southern Living,
9 Nov. 2025
-
The experience left them with mixed emotions.—
Sean Clancy,
Arkansas Online,
9 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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France has Europe’s largest population of Muslims, over 6 million, for whom pigs are considered impure.—
Reuters,
CNN Money,
9 Sep. 2025
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Even the most natural parts of many women’s lives — such as menstruation, clothing or even breastfeeding — can be framed as being impure or as moral transgressions.—
Mark Travers,
Forbes.com,
5 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Polluted.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/polluted. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025.
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