pollution
/pəˈljuːʃən/US/pəˈluʃən/
pollution noun: physical contamination, now especially the contamination of the environment by harmful substances, or by disruptive levels of noise, light etc.
Noun
pollution (usually uncountable, plural pollutions)
- Physical contamination, now especially the contamination of the environment by harmful substances, or by disruptive levels of noise, light etc.
- Pollution levels are almost always higher in cities rather than the countryside, what with the cars, industry and so on.
- If successful, Edison and Ford—in 1914—would move society away from the[…]hazards of gasoline cars: air and water pollution, noise and noxiousness, constant coughing and the undeniable rise in cancers caused by smoke exhaust particulates.2006, Edwin Black, chapter 1, in Internal Combustion
- Synonyms:
- defedation, defilement, soilage, adulteration, contamination, sophistication
- Antonyms:
- conservation
- Something that pollutes; a pollutant.
- Synonyms:
- adulterant, contaminant, contamination, impurity, sophisticant, adulterator, contaminator, pollutant, taint
- The desecration of something holy or sacred; defilement, profanation.
- Men who attend the Altar, and should most / Endevor Peace: thir strife pollution brings / Upon the Temple it self […].1667, John Milton, “Book XII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
- [T]he most gallant knights that ever wielded sword wasted their lives away in a struggle to seize it and hold it sacred from infidel pollution.1869, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], The Innocents Abroad, or The New Pilgrims’ Progress; […], Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company. […], →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- debasement, debauchment, perversion, abasement, adulteration, corruption, defilement, depravation, depravement, impurification
- Antonyms:
- purity
- The ejaculation of semen outside of sexual intercourse, especially a nocturnal emission.
- When occasioned by a voluntary act it is called, simply, Pollution or Masturbation (q.v.); when excited, during sleep, by lascivious dreams, it takes the name Noctur'nal pollution, Exoneiro'sis, Oneirog'mos, Oneirog'onos, Gonorrhœ'a dormien'tium, G. oneirog'onos, G. Vera, G. libidino'sa...1839, Robley Dunglison, Medical Lexicon, Blanchard, page 492
- According to Billuart and other theologians, pollution in sleep is not sin, unless voluntarily caused; if, however, it begins in sleep, and is completed in the half-waking state, with a sense of pleasure, it is a venial sin.1927, Havelock Ellis, Studies in the Psychology of Sex, volume 1
- Moral or spiritual corruption; impurity, degradation, defilement.
- She condescended to wait on them at Pemberley, in spite of that pollution which its woods had received.1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], Pride and Prejudice: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- baseness, perversion, corruption, defilement, degeneracy, degradation, depravation, depravedness, depravity, impurity
pollution meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
pollution in Hindi
- the contamination of the environment by harmful substances
- प्रदूषण pradūṣaṇ, कालुष्य kāluṣya
pollution in Tamil
- மாசு, மாசுபாடு, சுற்றுப்புறத் தூய்மைக் கேடு
pollution in Marathi
- प्रदूषण
pollution in Urdu
- the contamination of the environment by harmful substances
- آلُودَگی ālūdagī
More languagesFewer languages
- pollution in Bengali
- দূষণ duśon
- pollution in Telugu
- కాలుష్యం kāluṣyaṁ
- pollution in Malayalam
- മലിനീകരണം malinīkaraṇaṁ
- pollution in Kannada
- ಮಾಲಿನ್ಯ mālinya
- pollution in Punjabi
- ਪ੍ਰਦੂਸ਼ਨ
- pollution in Gujarati
- પ્રદૂષણ pradūṣaṇ
- pollution in Odia
- ପ୍ରଦୂଷଣ
- pollution in Sanskrit
- प्रदूषण pradūṣaṇa
- pollution in Nepali
- प्रदूषण
- pollution in Arabic
- تَلْوِيث talwīṯ, تَلَوُّث talawwuṯ
- pollution in Malay
- pencemaran
- pollution in Indonesian
- pencemaran, polusi
- pollution in Thai
- มลภาวะ mon-lá-paa-wá, มลพิษ mon-lá-pít
- pollution in Vietnamese
- sự ô nhiễm
- pollution in Myanmar
- ညစ်ညမ်းမှု nyacnyam:hmu.
Examples of pollution in a sentence
- Schools across the country are moving to ban the school run amid growing concern about the devastating impact of air pollution on young people’s health.2018 July 13, Matthew Taylor, The Guardian:
- Pollution now kills three times as many people worldwide as Aids, tuberculosis and malaria combined.2019, George Monbiot, “Cars are killing us. Within 10 years, we must phase them out”, in Guardian.:
- "Flying only looks like a bargain because the cost of pollution is so cheap."2023 August 9, “Network News: Network rail under fire for spending thousands of pounds on flights”, in RAIL, number 989, page 15:
- Vera, G. libidino'sa, Proflu'vium Sem'inis, Spermatorrhœ'a, Paronir'ia salax, Night pollution.1839, Robley Dunglison, Medical Lexicon, Blanchard, page 492:
Synonyms of pollution
- defedation
- defilement
- soilage
- adulteration
- contamination
- adulterant
- contaminant
- impurity
- sophisticant
- adulterator
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
- contaminator
- pollutant
- taint
- debasement
- debauchment
- perversion
- abasement
- corruption
- depravation
- impurification
- profanation
- baseness
- degeneracy
- degradation
- depravedness
- depravity
- iniquity
- lewdity
- malignity
- misdoing
- misguilt
- obliquity
- peccability
- sin
- sinfulness
- turpitude
- vitiation
- wickedness
- wrongdoing
- sophistication
Antonyms
Forms of pollution
| plural | pollutions |
|---|
Origin of pollution
From Middle English pollucioun, pollucion (“desecration, impurity”), from Anglo-Norman pollutiun, Middle French pollution, pollucion, and their source, post-classical Latin pollūtiō (“defilement, desecration; nocturnal emission”) (4th century), from the participial stem of polluō (“to soil, defile, contaminate”), from por- (“before”) + -luō (“to smear”), related to lutum (“mud”) and luēs (“filth”). Compare Ancient Greek λῦμα (lûma, “filth, dirt, disgrace”) and λῦμαξ (lûmax, “rubbish, refuse”), Old Irish loth (“mud, dirt”), Lithuanian lutynas (“pool, puddle”). By surface analysis, pollute + -ion.
Words formed from pollution
- agropollution
- air pollution
- antipollution
- biopollution
- electropollution
- genetic pollution
- hydropollution
- light pollution
- nocturnal pollution
- noise pollution
- nonpollution
- overpollution
- photopollution
- pollutician
- pollutional
- pollutionary
- pollution-free
- pollutionist
- pollutionless
- pollution permit system
- self-pollution
- soil pollution
- underpollution
- visual pollution
- water pollution
Phrases with pollution
Words that rhyme with pollution
- distribution
- resolution
- institution
- evolution
- involution
- ablution
- revolution
- convolution
- execution
- solution
- absolution
- constitution
26 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- devolution
- dilution
- restitution
- attribution
- circumlocution
- contribution
- destitution
- dissolution
- prosecution
- substitution
- diminution
- lilliputian
- prostitution
- Lucian
- robot revolution
- Rosicrucian
- Aleutian
- Confucian
- coresolution
- coupvolution
- Eeveelution
- elution
- nocturnal pollution
- persecution
- retribution
- robolution
Questions about pollution
- What does pollution mean?
- Pollution means physical contamination, now especially the contamination of the environment by harmful substances, or by disruptive levels of noise, light etc.
- What is pollution in Hindi?
- Pollution in Hindi is प्रदूषण (pradūṣaṇ), कालुष्य (kāluṣya). See Pollution meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use pollution in a sentence?
- Schools across the country are moving to ban the school run amid growing concern about the devastating impact of air pollution on young people’s health.
- What part of speech is pollution?
- Pollution is a noun.
- How do you pronounce pollution?
- Pollution is pronounced /pəˈljuːʃən/ (UK).
- What is the plural of pollution?
- The plural of pollution is pollutions.
Words near pollution in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: pollution (page history and authors); pollution (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); pollution (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ಮಾಲಿನ್ಯ (Kannada) (page history and authors); pollution (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); પ્રદૂષણ (Gujarati) (page history and authors); pollution (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pollution (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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-uk-pollution.ogg.
Cite this entry: “pollution.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pollution. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.