pollute

Word family

Related topics: Environment & waste

pol·lute /pəˈluːt/ verb [transitiveT]

1 SGPDIRTYto make air, water, soil etc dangerously dirty and not suitable for people to use 污染〔空气、水、土壤等〕

beaches polluted by raw sewage

受未经处理的污水污染的海滩

The factory pollutes the air and water.

那家工厂污染了空气和水。

heavily/severely/badly etc polluted

The island has been seriously polluted by a copper mine.

该岛被一座铜矿严重污染了。

pollute something with something

The rivers had been polluted with aluminium.

河流受到了铝污染。

2 to spoil or ruin something that used to be good 毁掉；败坏

an artist spiritually polluted by money and fame

被名利腐蚀了灵魂的艺术家

3 pollute somebody’s mind BAD BEHAVIOUR OR ACTIONSto give someone immoral thoughts and spoil their character 毒害[荼毒]某人的思想

Violence on television is polluting the minds of our children.

电视暴力正在毒害我们孩子的思想。

Examples from the Corpus

pollute• An investigation revealed that the mine was polluting both the air and the groundwater.• This would implant an electronic smart card in cars' engine-management systems, to monitor the quantity of polluting emissions.• But the association of menstrual blood pollutes her and she loses for ever the pristine purity of a female child.• Giving companies tax incentives to clean up and use vacant, polluted lots in cities.• Many of these factories pollute the air with hydrogen sulfide.• Money has polluted the democratic spirit of American politics.• The dreams of nineteenth-century poets polluted the psychic atmosphere of the great boroughs and suburbs of New York.• It is believed the spill is continuing to pollute the region.• The company is charged with polluting the River Mersey by allowing crude oil to enter the river.• The factory explosion, which polluted the surrounding area with dioxin, was reportedly caused by negligence.• The group wants to ban logging activities that could pollute the water.• As well as not functioning in a submersed situation, dying cells, releasing adverse substances will pollute the water.

heavily/severely/badly etc polluted• There was little information on the health of people living in that area, which had been known to be heavily polluted.• Water in the area is severely polluted.• The city is being severely polluted by an array of emission-releasing industries, an oil refinery and three million cars.• The river is already heavily polluted by chemical and metallurgical industries.• Sometimes there were sandy heaths which looked like parts of Surrey and sometimes massive, sulphurous and heavily polluted industrial plants.• In general, in the authority's industrialized areas the emphasis in pollution control is on cleaning up heavily polluted rivers.

Origin pollute

(1300-1400) Latin past participle of polluere

pol·lute verb

Chinese

Syllable

Corpus