pollute
/pəˈluːt/
pollute verb: to make something harmful, especially by the addition of some unwanted product.
Verb
pollute (third-person singular simple present pollutes, present participle polluting, simple past and past participle polluted)
- To make something harmful, especially by the addition of some unwanted product.
- The factory polluted the river when it cleaned its tanks.
- Synonyms:
- contaminate, poison, taint
- To make something or somewhere less suitable for some activity, especially by the introduction of some unnatural factor.
- The lights from the stadium polluted the night sky, and we couldn't see the stars.
- To corrupt or profane
- But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, as for murderers, fornicators, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their lot shall be in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur, which is the second death.1952, Bible (Revised Standard Version, Revelation 21:8
- Synonyms:
- debauch, lead astray, defile, sully, adulterate, corrupt, demoralize, detort, file, immoralize
- To violate sexually; to debauch; to dishonour.
- to flatulate.
Adjective
pollute (comparative more pollute, superlative most pollute)
- Polluted; defiled.
pollute meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
pollute in Tamil
- மாசுபடுத்தல்
pollute in Urdu
- گندہ کرنا, خراب کرنا
pollute in Bengali
- দূষিত করা, নোংরা করা
pollute in Malayalam
- അശുദ്ധമാക്കുക, മലിനമാക്കുക, ദുഷിപ്പിക്കുക, കളങ്കപ്പെടുത്തുക
More languagesFewer languages
- pollute in Kannada
- ಕಲುಷಿತಗೊಳಿಸು, ಕೊಳೆ ಮಾಡು, ಹೊಲಸು, ಅಶುದ್ಧಗೊಳಿಸು
- pollute in Nepali
- छुनु chunu
- pollute in Myanmar
- ညစ်ညမ်း nyacnyam:
Examples of pollute in a sentence
- Residents have little control over the industrial effluent that pollutes their rivers.
- This water is too polluted for us to drink (it).
- A well is foul with polluted water.
Synonyms of pollute
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of pollute
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | pollutes |
| present participle | polluting |
| past participle | polluted |
| past | polluted |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more pollute |
| superlative | most pollute |
Origin of pollute
From Middle English polluten, borrowed from Latin pollūtum, from pollūtus (“no longer virgin", "unchaste”), perfect passive participle of polluō (“soil", "defile", "dishonor”).
Words formed from pollute
Words that rhyme with pollute
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- cute
- moot
- overshoot
- recruit
- salute
- volute
- dispute
- impute
- scoot
- snoot
- substitute
- chute
- depute
- dilute
- hoot
- loot
- pursuit
- reboot
- scute
- uproot
- Beirut
- cahoot
- Clute
- convolute
- lute
- zoot
- ablute
- Aleut
- argute
- astute
- beaut
- bruit
- compute
- coot
- doot
- en route
- glout
- jute
- minute
- newt
- poot
- refute
- repute
- resolute
- 'tute
- angel lute
- butte
- cheroot
Questions about pollute
- What does pollute mean?
- Pollute means to make something harmful, especially by the addition of some unwanted product.
- What is pollute in Tamil?
- Pollute in Tamil is மாசுபடுத்தல். See Pollute meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is pollute?
- Pollute can be a verb or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce pollute?
- Pollute is pronounced /pəˈluːt/.
- What is the past tense of pollute?
- The past tense of pollute is polluted.
Words near pollute in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: pollute (page history and authors); pollute (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); pollute (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Pollute (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); pollute (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); pollute (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); छुनु (Nepali) (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: en-us-pollute.ogg.
Cite this entry: “pollute.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pollute. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.