Meaning & use
contaminate
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Meanings
verbtransitive
To make something dirty, unsafe, or harmful by adding a polluting or infectious substance.
Grammar: Takes an object: contaminate the water. Often used in the passive: The river was contaminated by waste.
Patterns
- contaminate something
- contaminate something with something
- be contaminated by something
Factory chemicals contaminated the local water supply.
The food was contaminated with bacteria and had to be thrown away.
If you don't clean the wound, it can become contaminated.
verbtransitive
To make something less pure or less correct by mixing it with something unwanted.
Grammar: Often used for abstract things like data, language, or ideas: contaminate the results.
Patterns
- contaminate something
- contaminate something with something
A few typing errors contaminated the survey data.
Foreign words have contaminated the purity of the language, some purists argue.
Word forms
| third person singular | contaminates |
|---|---|
| past tense | contaminated |
| past participle | contaminated |
| -ing form | contaminating |
Common combinations
- contaminate water
- Waste from the mine has contaminated the water in nearby wells.
- contaminate food
- Bacteria can contaminate food if it is left out too long.
- become contaminated
- The samples became contaminated during transport.
- highly contaminated
- The soil around the old factory is highly contaminated.
Synonyms and how they differ
- pollute
- Pollute is used mainly for air, water, or land made dirty by harmful substances; contaminate is broader and can also mean infected or made impure.
- taint
- Taint suggests a slight but damaging addition, often to food or reputation; contaminate is stronger and more physical.
- infect
- Infect is used for germs entering a body or plant; contaminate is about objects or substances becoming impure.
Opposites
Word family
- contamination noun
- The state of being contaminated or the process of contaminating.
- contaminant noun
- A substance that contaminates something.
- contaminated adjective
- Made impure or unsafe by a harmful substance.
Commonly confused: contaminate or condemn?
contaminate vs condemn
Condemn means to say strongly that something is wrong; contaminate means to make something dirty or unsafe.
Practice
The river was ______ by chemicals from the factory.
Choose one answer.
The passive voice needs the past participle 'contaminated' after 'was'. 'Contaminating' would be active and not fit 'was'; 'contaminate' and 'contaminates' are present forms that do not follow 'was'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “contaminate”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.