Synonyms of polluted

polluted 1 of 2

adjective

as in contaminated

containing foreign or lower-grade substances

called in to clean up the polluted stream

Synonyms & Similar Words

• contaminated
• thinned
• diluted
• dilute
• tainted
• adulterated
• mixed
• impure
• alloyed
• blended
• weakened
• soiled
• combined
• corrupted
• spoiled
• unfiltered
• debased
• dirtied
• fouled
• defiled
• compounded
• adulterate
• begrimed
• befouled
• incorporated
• mingled
• sullied
• unclarified
• commingled
• intermingled
• merged
• intermixed
• unrefined
• besmirched
• maculate
• bemired
• coalesced
• cheapened
• doctored

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• unpolluted
• pure
• uncontaminated
• untainted
• fine
• undiluted
• unadulterated
• unmixed
• uncut
• purified
• refined
• unalloyed
• filtered
• plain
• concentrated
• straight
• neat
• strong
• ultrapure
• sterile
• clean
• uncombined
• ultrarefined
• clarified
• pasteurized
• sterilized
• spotless
• stainless
• immaculate
• unsullied
• unsoiled

polluted

2 of 2

verb

past tense of pollute

as in poisoned

to make unfit for use by the addition of something harmful or undesirable

outmoded factories polluting the air

Synonyms & Similar Words

• poisoned
• contaminated
• tainted
• infected
• defiled
• befouled
• stained
• fouled
• soiled
• diluted
• sullied
• blackened
• smudged
• dirtied
• muddied
• corrupted
• adulterated
• mired
• rotted
• besmirched
• spoiled
• begrimed
• grimed
• watered down
• smirched
• fouled up
• doctored

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• purified
• cleaned
• distilled
• cleared
• cleansed
• purged
• filtered
• decontaminated
• clarified
• sterilized
• disinfected
• sanitized

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of polluted

Adjective

New Delhi and its metropolitan region, home to more than 30 million people, regularly rank among the world’s most polluted areas during winter. — ABC News, 8 Nov. 2026

Generations of Black children lived, learned, and played on the polluted land. — Yona Gavino, Miami Herald, 27 Oct. 2026

In early October, an agency field staffer requested that Citation install a specialized well in the Bayou to pump out polluted groundwater, according to a report in the agency’s incident database. — Nick Bowlin, ProPublica, 27 Oct. 2026

Wildfires in Indonesia are also the source of widespread haze that’s blanketing much of the region and making Southeast Asian cities such as Singapore and Kuala Lumpur among the world’s most polluted. — Jay Ganglani, Fortune, 23 Oct. 2026

And everybody, ranging from workers in forced labor, to communities next to a polluted lake, to the companies that are less prepared to operate in a volatile and uncertain world, are paying the bill. — Ben Vanpeperstraete, Footwear News, 23 Oct. 2026

Some have polluted rivers, destroyed forests or contaminated cenotes [sinkholes], and all struggle with guilt. — Anna Marie De La Fuente, Variety, 22 Oct. 2026

Where King’s Margaret actively disliked her daughter—viewing her as the polluted spawn of the night her drunken husband effectively raped her—Sloyan’s Margaret clearly loves Carrie, wanting only to protect her from a world of sin and depravity. — ArsTechnica, 21 Oct. 2026

One of the singular features of Baotou, an industrial city of 2 million people in Inner Mongolia, is a 10-square-kilometer (4-square-mile) lake that is among the most polluted in the world. — Glenn Zorpette, IEEE Spectrum, 15 Oct. 2026

Verb

When those waters are polluted, the damage is not confined to a technical measurement in a permit or a line on a monitoring report. — Dana Adkins, Washington Post, 23 Oct. 2026

In a world riven by democratic backsliding and polluted with AI slop, there’s something seductive about the idea of retreating to a wild, unnavigable place where no one can follow you—because you’ll be submerged up to your eyeballs. — Literary Hub, 15 Oct. 2026

In the northern part of the district, the waterfront is polluted by ships. — Jemma Stephenson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 10 Sep. 2026

Our state has thousands of sites already polluted with toxic chemicals and other pollutants, and those projects affect air quality, safe drinking water and community health for millions of Californians. — Shannon Olivieri Hovis, Mercury News, 18 Aug. 2026

Greenpeace Germany warned that oil has already polluted stretches of coastline and damaged the area's fragile ecosystem. — Stephen Sorace, FOXNews.com, 2 Aug. 2026

Stretches of coastline and the area’s sensitive marine ecosystem have been polluted and damaged. — ABC News, 1 Aug. 2026

Both lead to context getting polluted, eroding response quality at scale. — Chhaya Methani, Forbes.com, 28 July 2026

The same river that was savagely polluted by the mining industry, devastating the ancestral oasis of Quillagua. — Cristina Dorador, The Dial, 14 July 2026