as in polluting
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
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of contaminating
For every grousing old-timer who felt that Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman was contaminating the genre came another who expressed sheer joy that such a show even existed.
—
Literary Hub, 18 May 2026
Over the years, villagers in Roko-Roko held demonstrations, accusing the mining company of clearing community farmland and contaminating a local spring.
—NPR, 7 May 2026
Leaders said the leak resulted in 20,000 gallons of fuel being released, contaminating the soil outside the base at the waters of nearby Piscataway Creek.
—Jt Moodee Lockman, CBS News, 6 May 2026
Research has shown the likelihood of the gas contaminating soil and groundwater is low.
—Dorany Pineda, Fortune, 2 May 2026
Research has shown the likelihood of the gas contaminating soil and groundwater is low.
—ABC News, 1 May 2026
Just last month, a massive oil spill in the Gulf spread more than 373 miles and into seven nature reserves, contaminating at least six species and sending 800 tons of hydrocarbon-laden waste into the ocean.
—Alexa St. John, Los Angeles Times, 20 Apr. 2026
This link, as expected, appears strongest in coastal areas where seawater is increasingly contaminating freshwater supplies.
—Rajiv Chowdhury, The Conversation, 15 Apr. 2026
The risk of contaminating the aquifer is a long and sincerely held fear among critics like Leigh Ford, executive director of the Snake River Alliance, a nuclear watchdog.
—Mark Dee
april 13, Idaho Statesman, 13 Apr. 2026
Literary Hub, 18 May 2026
Over the years, villagers in Roko-Roko held demonstrations, accusing the mining company of clearing community farmland and contaminating a local spring.
—NPR, 7 May 2026
Leaders said the leak resulted in 20,000 gallons of fuel being released, contaminating the soil outside the base at the waters of nearby Piscataway Creek.
—Jt Moodee Lockman, CBS News, 6 May 2026
Research has shown the likelihood of the gas contaminating soil and groundwater is low.
—Dorany Pineda, Fortune, 2 May 2026
Research has shown the likelihood of the gas contaminating soil and groundwater is low.
—ABC News, 1 May 2026
Just last month, a massive oil spill in the Gulf spread more than 373 miles and into seven nature reserves, contaminating at least six species and sending 800 tons of hydrocarbon-laden waste into the ocean.
—Alexa St. John, Los Angeles Times, 20 Apr. 2026
This link, as expected, appears strongest in coastal areas where seawater is increasingly contaminating freshwater supplies.
—Rajiv Chowdhury, The Conversation, 15 Apr. 2026
The risk of contaminating the aquifer is a long and sincerely held fear among critics like Leigh Ford, executive director of the Snake River Alliance, a nuclear watchdog.
—Mark Dee
april 13, Idaho Statesman, 13 Apr. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for contaminating
Verb
-
Engineers and safety experts are solving problems in a new technology that gets us off expensive and polluting fossil fuels.—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
9 May 2026
-
Sunil Bector, an attorney with the Sierra Club, said that heavily polluting facilities will reap overlapping benefits from the assault on the Clean Air Act.—
Mark Olalde,
ProPublica,
8 May 2026
Verb
-
The chemotherapy doctors are poisoning you.—
Eileen Finan,
PEOPLE,
19 May 2026
-
Boys State team Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss are behind Teenage Wasteland, which revisits the story of a group of teenagers in upstate New York, who in the early 1990s make a film that uncovers a conspiracy that is poisoning their community.—
Mia Galuppo,
HollywoodReporter,
14 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Contaminating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/contaminating. Accessed 22 May. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
