Word.ws English Dictionary

Synonyms of pollute

74 similar words

Another word for pollute is poison. Other synonyms of pollute are corrupt, contaminate, ruin, soil and bungle.

Synonyms and similar words for pollute

verbTo make something harmful, especially by the addition of some unwanted product.

  • contaminateTo make something dangerous or toxic by introducing impurities or foreign matter.
  • poisonTo pollute; to cause to become poisonous.
  • taint

verbTo make something or somewhere less suitable for some activity, especially by the introduction of...

  • blightTo impede the development or growth of (an aspect of life); to damage, to ruin, to spoil.
  • marTo spoil; to ruin; to scathe; to damage.
  • ruinTo upset or overturn the plans or progress of, or to have a disastrous effect on something.
  • bumble
  • botchTo perform (a task) in an incompetent or unacceptable manner; to make a mess of something.
  • bugger up vulgar
  • bungleTo incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action; to botch up, to bumble.
  • corruptTo make corrupt; to change from good to bad; to draw away from the right path; to deprave; to pervert.
  • crab slang
  • depraveTo make bad or worse; to vitiate; to corrupt.
  • disrupt
  • disturb
  • foilTo blunt; to dull; to spoil.
  • fuck up vulgar
  • jack up vulgar
  • mess up
  • mishandle
  • mommick US, dialectalTo mess up; to bungle or ruin by bungling.
  • put a crimp in
  • screw up vulgar
  • soilTo make invalid, to ruin.
  • sour
  • spoil
  • stain
  • undo literary
  • upset
  • turn upside down
  • upset the applecartTo disorganize or spoil something, especially an established arrangement or plan.
  • vitiateTo spoil, make faulty; to reduce the value, quality, or effectiveness of something.
  • ball up dated, slangTo ruin or botch.
  • queer dated, slang

verbTo corrupt or profane.

  • debauchTo morally corrupt (someone); to seduce.
  • lead astrayTo influence (someone) to have bad habits or to behave improperly or illegally.
  • defileTo make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean; to befoul, to soil.
  • sully
  • adulterateTo corrupt, to debase (someone or something).
  • fileTo corrupt.
  • immoralizeTo corrupt; to make immoral.
  • pervert
  • seduceTo beguile or lure (someone) away from duty, accepted principles, or proper conduct; to lead astray.
  • sophisticate figurativelyTo alter and make impure (something) by mixing it with some foreign or inferior substance, especially with an intention...
  • subornTo induce (someone) to commit an unlawful or malicious act, especially in a corrupt manner.
  • subvertTo pervert, as the mind, and turn it from the truth; to corrupt; to confound.
  • unmoralizeTo make immoral or corrupt.
  • warpTo deflect or turn (something) away from a true, proper or moral course; to pervert; to bias.
  • desecrate
  • profanateTo profane; to make profane.
  • profane
  • profanizeTo make profane.
  • tarnish
  • violateTo rape.
  • demoralize datedTo erode the moral adherence of; to corrupt.
  • detort datedTo pervert.
  • preposterate obsoleteTo pervert or disgrace.
  • tamper datedTo meddle (with something) in order to corrupt or pervert it.

verbTo violate sexually; to debauch; to dishonour.

  • abuseTo violate; defile; to rape; (reflexive) to masturbate.
  • outrageTo sexually violate; to rape.
  • ravishTo rape.
  • dishonourTo violate or rape.
  • forceTo violate (a woman); to rape.
  • misuseTo rape (a woman); later more generally, to sexually abuse (someone).
  • rape
  • ravage slangTo rape.
  • r-word euphemisticTo rape.
  • scotch slangTo rape.
  • turn out slangTo rape; to coerce an otherwise heterosexual individual into performing a homosexual role.
  • grape euphemistic
  • constuprate obsoleteTo rape, violate.
  • defoul obsoleteTo defile the chastity of; to debauch, to rape.
  • oppress obsoleteTo sexually violate; to rape.
  • viole obsoleteTo violate, especially to rape.

Meaning of pollute

  1. verb To make something harmful, especially by the addition of some unwanted product.
  2. verb To make something or somewhere less suitable for some activity, especially by the introduction of some unnatural factor.
  3. verb To corrupt or profane.

Full definition of pollute

pollute in other languages

Questions about synonyms of pollute

What is another word for pollute?
Pollute has 74 synonyms on Word.ws, such as poison, corrupt, contaminate, ruin, soil, bungle, botch and violate.
What does pollute mean?
Pollute means to make something harmful, especially by the addition of some unwanted product.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pollute (page history and authors) and the entries of the words listed. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws grouped the synonyms and antonyms by meaning and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “Synonyms of pollute.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/synonyms/pollute. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.