contaminate
verb
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Contaminate, taint, pollute, and defile mean to make impure or unclean. Contaminate implies intrusion of or contact with dirt or foulness from an outside source (logically enough, it derives from the Latin word tangere, meaning "to touch"). Taint stresses a loss of purity or cleanliness that follows contact ("tainted meat"). Pollute, sometimes interchangeable with contaminate, may imply that the process which begins with contamination is complete and that what was pure or clean has been made foul, poisoned, or filthy ("the polluted waters of the river"). Defile implies befouling of what could or should have been kept clean and pure or held sacred, and commonly suggests violation or desecration ("vandals defiled the mausoleum").
Examples of contaminate in a Sentence
Amaris Encinas, USA TODAY, 22 Mar. 2025
What To Know Officials said residents needn't worry about the contamination, as Bennington's public water supply comes from Morgan Springs, which is not contaminated by the PFAS.
—Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 21 Mar. 2025
Storage sites like the air bases of Danang and Bien Hoa were heavily contaminated as barrels leaked, broke or were otherwise mishandled.
—Anna Maria Barry-Jester, ProPublica, 17 Mar. 2025
Eating raw food amplifies a pet’s risk, Sykes says, because that can expose them to meat that is contaminated with bird flu or other pathogens.
—Jude Coleman, Scientific American, 14 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for contaminate
Cite this Entry
“Contaminate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/contaminate. Accessed 28 Mar. 2025.
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contaminate
verb
Medical Definition
contaminate
transitive verb
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