Word.ws English Dictionary

cesspool

/ˈsɛsˌpuːl/

cesspool noun: an underground pit where sewage is held.

Noun

cesspool (plural cesspools)

  1. An underground pit where sewage is held.
    Synonyms:
    cesspit, gongpit
  2. (broadly, derogatory, figuratively) A filthy place.
    • Under such circumstances, I naturally gravitated to London, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained.1887, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “A Study in Scarlet”, in Beeton’s Christmas Annual, London; New York, N.Y.: Ward, Lock & Co., part I (Being a reprint from the reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D., […])...
    Synonyms:
    cesspit

cesspool meaning in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Tagalog

cesspool in Tamil

கழிவுநீர்க்குழி, வடிகுட்டை

cesspool in Malayalam

മലിനജലം കെട്ടിക്കിടക്കുന്ന കുഴി, അഴുക്കുവെള്ളക്കുഴി

cesspool in Kannada

ಬಸಿಗುಂಡಿ, ರೊಚ್ಚುಗುಂಡಿ

cesspool in Tagalog

place for sewage
poso siyego, poso syego
More languagesFewer languages
cesspool in Arabic
بِئْر تَسْرِيب biʔr tasrīb, بَيَّارَة صَرْف, بَالُوعَة bālūʕa

Synonyms of cesspool

Forms of cesspool

pluralcesspools
alternative formcess pool
alternative formsesspool

Plural of cesspool: cesspools

Origin of cesspool

From earlier sesspool. Origin uncertain. Perhaps from Italian cesso (“privy, a toilet”) + English pool. Alternatively, an alteration of English dialectal suspool, from suss, soss (“a puddle; mire”) + pool. Another possible derivation is from a folk etymology (influence from pool) from earlier cesperalle, alteration of Middle English suspiral, from Middle French souspirail (“an air hole”), from soupirer, souspirer (“to sigh, breathe”), from Latin suspirare.

Words formed from cesspool

Questions about cesspool

What does cesspool mean?
Cesspool means an underground pit where sewage is held.
What is cesspool in Tamil?
Cesspool in Tamil is கழிவுநீர்க்குழி, வடிகுட்டை. See Cesspool meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is cesspool?
Cesspool is a noun.
How do you pronounce cesspool?
Cesspool is pronounced /ˈsɛsˌpuːl/.
What is the plural of cesspool?
The plural of cesspool is cesspools.

Words near cesspool in the dictionary

  1. cessors
  2. cesspipe
  3. cesspipes
  4. cesspit
  5. cesspits
  6. cesspool
  7. cesspools
  8. cesstibtantite
  9. cest
  10. cesta
  11. Cestar

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cesspool (page history and authors); cesspool (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cesspool (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cesspool (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-cesspool.wav.

Cite this entry: “cesspool.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cesspool. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.