as in to pollute
to make unfit for use by the addition of something harmful or undesirable
a supply of drinking water that was contaminated by a toxic waste dump
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Recent Examples of contaminate
The crash destroyed the patio and contaminated the 25,000-gallon pool with motor oil.
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Emma Bussey, FOXNews.com, 31 Dec. 2025
Salmonella is often associated with undercooked poultry, eggs and contaminated produce, but it can also be found in seafood, including oysters.
—Katia Hetter, CNN Money, 31 Dec. 2025
These cards may contain batteries or nonrecyclable material that contaminates other paper.
—Maia Pandey, jsonline.com, 31 Dec. 2025
In August, San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board officials said that Demler Brothers Egg Ranch had made significant steps toward meeting the requirements of a cease-and-desist order over complaints about odors and possibly contaminated water runoff at the facility at 25818 Highway 78.
—Regina Elling, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for contaminate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for contaminate
Verb
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Despite the cesspits of conspiracy-think that pollute contemporary politics, the specific paranoia of Letts’s characters — bugs under the skin, brainwashing, nefarious doctors in government labs — feels less blazingly relevant than comparatively quaint.—
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Chemical rockets put out huge plumes of polluting exhaust, and for a massive machine like the SpaceX Starship, with 33 first-stage engines, that can add up—especially with hundreds of launches planned.—
Verb
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According to other accounts, some white residents believed Makandal and his allies were behind a plot to poison the water supply in all the houses in the city of Le Cap.—
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In a recent study, however, researchers at Yale found that interoception helped mice avoid poisoning themselves.—
Cite this Entry
“Contaminate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/contaminate. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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