as in poisoning
to make unfit for use by the addition of something harmful or undesirable
outmoded factories polluting the air
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Recent Examples of polluting
Florida’s approach for policing water contamination amounts to an honor system that protects polluting industries — including agriculture and development, whose representatives lobby heavily in Tallahassee, the Times found.
—
Bethany Barnes, Miami Herald, 13 Jan. 2026
Chemical rockets put out huge plumes of polluting exhaust, and for a massive machine like the SpaceX Starship, with 33 first-stage engines, that can add up—especially with hundreds of launches planned.
—Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 7 Jan. 2026
The evidence is overwhelming and very difficult for high-polluting foreign governments to credibly challenge.
—Chip Lamarca, Sun Sentinel, 6 Jan. 2026
The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism targets imports of aluminum, cement, steel, and other goods that the EU determines are made with more-polluting processes than those allowed within the bloc.
—Prashant Rao, semafor.com, 2 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for polluting
Bethany Barnes, Miami Herald, 13 Jan. 2026
Chemical rockets put out huge plumes of polluting exhaust, and for a massive machine like the SpaceX Starship, with 33 first-stage engines, that can add up—especially with hundreds of launches planned.
—Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 7 Jan. 2026
The evidence is overwhelming and very difficult for high-polluting foreign governments to credibly challenge.
—Chip Lamarca, Sun Sentinel, 6 Jan. 2026
The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism targets imports of aluminum, cement, steel, and other goods that the EU determines are made with more-polluting processes than those allowed within the bloc.
—Prashant Rao, semafor.com, 2 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for polluting
Recent Examples of Synonyms for polluting
Verb
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There are even tales of them poisoning people and holding funerals for their dead.—
Harmeet Kaur,
CNN Money,
11 Feb. 2026
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Officials in both Hong Kong and Beijing defended the case against Lai, with the city’s leader John Lee accusing the newspaper of inciting violence and poisoning young minds.—
Kanis Leung,
Los Angeles Times,
10 Feb. 2026
Verb
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You and your daughter are fitted with masks before you are brought in through a side door to avoid contaminating the waiting room, and then herded into an isolated negative-pressure room designed to prevent the aerosolized virus from traveling into the hall.—
Elizabeth Bruenig,
The Atlantic,
12 Feb. 2026
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Thousands of Princeton undergraduates took it upon themselves to search the nearby woods, despite official concerns about contaminating potential evidence.—
Kase Wickman,
Vanity Fair,
7 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Played by cisgender actress Kathleen Turner, Charles proved to be one of the more divisive characters from Friends, tainting its cultural legacy for some critics.—
Ryan Coleman,
Entertainment Weekly,
16 Feb. 2026
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Infected people and dogs had to be prevented from tainting water sources.—
Dan Raby,
CBS News,
30 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Polluting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/polluting. Accessed 19 Feb. 2026.
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