Word.ws English Dictionary

contaminated

contaminated is the simple past and past participle of contaminate.

Adjective

contaminated (comparative more contaminated, superlative most contaminated)

  1. adulterated; impure
  2. made unfit for use by the introduction of unwholesome or undesirable elements.
    • A "contaminated" runway has over 25% of its surface area covered with standing water or slush (or loose snow) more than 3mm thick, or compressed snow and ice anywhere along the takeoff run or accelerate-stop surface.2004, Phil Croucher, JAR Professional Pilot Studies, pages 12–6
    Synonyms:
    polluted, tainted

Meaning of contaminate

Verb

contaminate (third-person singular simple present contaminates, present participle contaminating, simple past and past participle contaminated)

  1. (transitive) To make something dangerous or toxic by introducing impurities or foreign matter.
    • This water is contaminated. It isn't safe to drink.
    Synonyms:
    poison, pollute, taint
  2. (transitive) To soil, stain, corrupt, or infect by contact or association.
    • Shall we now
      Contaminate our figures with base bribes?1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
    Synonyms:
    defile, pollute, sully, assoil, beclart, bedaub, bedirty, imbrue (especially with blood), bedizen, befile
  3. (transitive) To make unfit for use by the introduction of unwholesome or undesirable elements.
    • Do not contaminate the peanut butter with the jelly.
  4. (transitive) To infect, usually of a deadly virus.
    Synonyms:
    disease, leper

See all 6 meanings of contaminate

Synonyms of contaminated

Antonyms

Forms of contaminated

comparativemore contaminated
superlativemost contaminated

Words formed from contaminated

Questions about contaminated

What does contaminated mean?
Contaminated means adulterated; impure.
What is contaminated the simple past and past participle of?
Contaminated is the simple past and past participle of contaminate.
What part of speech is contaminated?
Contaminated is an adjective.

Words near contaminated in the dictionary

  1. contakion
  2. contaminable
  3. contaminant
  4. contaminants
  5. contaminate
  6. contaminated
  7. contaminates
  8. contaminating
  9. contamination
  10. contaminations
  11. contaminative

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: contaminated (page history and authors); contaminate (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)-Flame, not lame-contaminated.wav.

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