Meaning & use
contaminated
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Made impure or harmful by exposure to a polluting or infectious substance.
See it in a sentence
The well water was found to be contaminated with heavy metals.
Hospital staff disposed of the contaminated needles in a sealed container.
A note on using this word
Widely used in medical, environmental, and food-safety contexts to describe unwanted mixing with harmful substances.
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Another way to use it
2. verb
Made impure or infected, as the past tense of 'contaminate'.
Bacteria contaminated the batch of vaccine before it could be shipped.
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