POLLUTED Synonyms: 92 Similar and Opposite Words

polluted 1 of 2

adjective

as in contaminated

containing foreign or lower-grade substances called in to clean up the polluted stream

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

polluted

2 of 2

verb

past tense of pollute

as in poisoned

to make unfit for use by the addition of something harmful or undesirable outmoded factories polluting the air

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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 polluted

Adjective

Wildfires in Indonesia are also the source of widespread haze that’s blanketing much of the region and making Southeast Asian cities such as Singapore and Kuala Lumpur among the world’s most polluted. — Jay Ganglani, Fortune, 23 Oct. 2026 And everybody, ranging from workers in forced labor, to communities next to a polluted lake, to the companies that are less prepared to operate in a volatile and uncertain world, are paying the bill. — Ben Vanpeperstraete, Footwear News, 23 Oct. 2026 Some have polluted rivers, destroyed forests or contaminated cenotes [sinkholes], and all struggle with guilt. — Anna Marie De La Fuente, Variety, 22 Oct. 2026 Where King’s Margaret actively disliked her daughter—viewing her as the polluted spawn of the night her drunken husband effectively raped her—Sloyan’s Margaret clearly loves Carrie, wanting only to protect her from a world of sin and depravity. — ArsTechnica, 21 Oct. 2026 One of the singular features of Baotou, an industrial city of 2 million people in Inner Mongolia, is a 10-square-kilometer (4-square-mile) lake that is among the most polluted in the world. — Glenn Zorpette, IEEE Spectrum, 15 Oct. 2026 Lahn, who was endorsed early in his primary by political committee MAHA Action, has diverged from many of his Republican peers in directly linking polluted water and agrochemicals to Iowa’s cancer crisis. — ABC News, 14 Oct. 2026 Lahn, who was endorsed early in his primary by the political committee MAHA Action, has diverged from many of his Republican peers in directly linking polluted water and agrochemicals to Iowa's cancer crisis. — CBS News, 14 Oct. 2026 In April 2021, a tear in the liner of the site’s largest holding pond threatened to breach and flood surrounding homes with a wall of polluted water up to 20 feet high. — Ryan Ballogg, Miami Herald, 28 Sep. 2026

Verb

When those waters are polluted, the damage is not confined to a technical measurement in a permit or a line on a monitoring report. — Dana Adkins, Washington Post, 23 Oct. 2026 In a world riven by democratic backsliding and polluted with AI slop, there’s something seductive about the idea of retreating to a wild, unnavigable place where no one can follow you—because you’ll be submerged up to your eyeballs. — Literary Hub, 15 Oct. 2026 In the northern part of the district, the waterfront is polluted by ships. — Jemma Stephenson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 10 Sep. 2026 Our state has thousands of sites already polluted with toxic chemicals and other pollutants, and those projects affect air quality, safe drinking water and community health for millions of Californians. — Shannon Olivieri Hovis, Mercury News, 18 Aug. 2026 Greenpeace Germany warned that oil has already polluted stretches of coastline and damaged the area's fragile ecosystem. — Stephen Sorace, FOXNews.com, 2 Aug. 2026 Stretches of coastline and the area’s sensitive marine ecosystem have been polluted and damaged. — ABC News, 1 Aug. 2026 Both lead to context getting polluted, eroding response quality at scale. — Chhaya Methani, Forbes.com, 28 July 2026 The same river that was savagely polluted by the mining industry, devastating the ancestral oasis of Quillagua. — Cristina Dorador, The Dial, 14 July 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for polluted

Adjective

The audit, released Monday, identified a host of issues, including regulators’ failure to meet regular inspection schedules or to conduct sufficient random checks at dispensaries for contaminated products.

— Christopher Osher, ProPublica, 21 Oct. 2026
To break the chains of infections stemming from contaminated needles, Soqo has proposed supplying thousands of sterile needles and syringes to communities of methamphetamine users.

— David Cox, NPR, 26 Sep. 2026

Definition of contaminated

Verb

Apparently, Griffith now suspected that the Mesmers had poisoned Briswalter, and planned to poison him next.

— Andrew Coletti, Popular Science, 14 Oct. 2026
The video cuts to Swift living out exactly what Johnson’s been living through, revealing that Farrell poisoned Swift, leading to her death.

— Nicole Fell, HollywoodReporter, 27 Sep. 2026

Definition of poisoned

Adjective

In the spring, the Supreme Court weakened the Voting Rights Act, a landmark civil rights law, making way for Republican states to redraw their congressional maps and igniting fears of diluted Black representation.

— New York Times, New York Times, 29 Sep. 2026
Use a dry microfiber cloth for routine cleaning, and diluted dish soap or white vinegar to remove more stubborn, sticky film.

— Jolie Kerr, Better Homes & Gardens, 23 Sep. 2026

Definition of diluted

Adjective

Finally, the third recruits seaweed to gather minerals that are otherwise too dilute to chase.

— New Atlas, New Atlas, 27 July 2026
Clean and disinfect your pruning shears between working on each plant by dipping them into a dilute 10% solution of chlorine bleach water or rubbing alcohol.

— Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 4 July 2026

Definition of dilute

Adjective

The gallery’s upcoming exhibition of paintings, sculpture and mixed media works by Spanish artist Manolo Valdés brings another perspective to the district; his sculpture is also part of the outdoor environment.

— Fairchild Studio, Footwear News, 24 Oct. 2026
However, the actual performance for input lag is a little mixed.

— M. David Stone, PC Magazine, 24 Oct. 2026

Definition of mixed

Adjective

Wise’s wistful songwriting is retained, but completely missing is his intentionally impure palette.

— Billie Bugara, Pitchfork, 7 Mar. 2026
Kanto practitioners believe that women cannot participate because, according to Japan's Shinto religion, women's blood from menstruation and childbirth is considered impure for the purpose of religious rituals.

— Anthony Kuhn, NPR, 3 Nov. 2025

Definition of impure

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“Polluted.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/polluted. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of polluted

adjective

verb

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