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
Aliss Higham, Newsweek, 5 Nov. 2024
These prions can linger in the environment for years, contaminating soil and water sources and spreading the disease to new animals.
—Jake Parks, Discover Magazine, 5 Nov. 2024
That includes disposable instruments, plastic drapes, syringes, tubing, bandages and anything that might be contaminated with bodily fluids.
—Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY, 30 Oct. 2024
Pesticides used in agriculture and found on produce may have endocrine disruptors, and groundwater may be contaminated as well, Friedman added.
—Madeline Holcombe, CNN, 29 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for contaminate 
Dictionary Entries Near contaminate
Cite this Entry
“Contaminate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/contaminate. Accessed 26 Nov. 2024.
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contaminate
verb
Medical Definition
contaminate
transitive verb
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