Pollution

/pəˈljuːʃən/ · noun

Meaning

Physical contamination, now especially the contamination of the environment by harmful substances, or by disruptive levels of noise, light etc..

Definitions by Sense

1. Physical contamination, now especially the contamination of the environment by harmful substances, or by disruptive levels of noise, light etc.
2. Something that pollutes; a pollutant.
3. (now rare) The desecration of something holy or sacred; defilement, profanation.
4. (now archaic) The ejaculation of semen outside of sexual intercourse, especially a nocturnal emission.
5. Moral or spiritual corruption; impurity, degradation, defilement.

Example Sentences

Pollution levels are almost always higher in cities rather than the countryside, what with the cars, industry and so on.

If successful, Edison and Ford—in 1914—would move society away from the[…]hazards of gasoline cars: air and water pollution, noise and noxiousness, constant coughing and the undeniable rise in cancers caused by smoke exhaust particulates.

Schools across the country are moving to ban the school run amid growing concern about the devastating impact of air pollution on young people’s health.

Pollution now kills three times as many people worldwide as Aids, tuberculosis and malaria combined.

"Flying only looks like a bargain because the cost of pollution is so cheap."

Men who attend the Altar, and should most / Endevor Peace: thir strife pollution brings / Upon the Temple it self […].

[T]he most gallant knights that ever wielded sword wasted their lives away in a struggle to seize it and hold it sacred from infidel pollution.

When occasioned by a voluntary act it is called, simply, Pollution or Masturbation (q.v.); when excited, during sleep, by lascivious dreams, it takes the name Noctur'nal pollution, Exoneiro'sis, Oneirog'mos, Oneirog'onos, Gonorrhœ'a dormien'tium, G. oneirog'onos, G. Vera, G. libidino'sa, Proflu'vium Sem'inis, Spermatorrhœ'a, Paronir'ia salax, Night pollution.

Synonyms for pollution

Antonyms for pollution

Related Words

Word Forms

• pollutions

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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