Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The act or process of polluting or the state of being polluted, especially the contamination of soil, water, or the atmosphere by the discharge of harmful substances.
- noun Something that pollutes; a pollutant or a group of pollutants.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The act of polluting; also, the state of being polluted; defilement; uncleanness; impurity.
- noun Specifically, legal or ceremonial uncleanness, disqualifying a person for sacred services or for intercourse with others, or rendering anything unfit for sacred use.
- noun The emission of semen at any other time than during coition: more frequently called
self-pollution .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The act of polluting, or the state of being polluted (in any sense of the verb); defilement; uncleanness; impurity.
- noun (Med.) The emission of semen, or sperm, at other times than in sexual intercourse.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The act of
polluting or the state of beingpolluted , especially thecontamination of theenvironment byharmful substances . - noun Something that
pollutes ; apollutant . - noun archaic Physical
defilement . - noun medicine, obsolete The
emission ofsemen at other times than in sexual intercourse.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun undesirable state of the natural environment being contaminated with harmful substances as a consequence of human activities
- noun the act of contaminating or polluting; including (either intentionally or accidentally) unwanted substances or factors
- noun the state of being polluted
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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So I think we can use the term pollution to describe it.
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Koch Nitrogen Co. LLC, a fertilizer producer, questions the EPA's desire to make unit-specific or facility-specific emissions available, calling it "misguided" since a change in pollution from a single factory is unlikely to influence policy on a global problem.
Greenhouse Gases Database: Companies Fight To Keep Global Warming Data Secret AP 2010
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Koch Nitrogen Co. LLC, a fertilizer producer, questions the EPA's desire to make unit-specific or facility-specific emissions available, calling it "misguided" since a change in pollution from a single factory is unlikely to influence policy on a global problem.
Greenhouse Gases Database: Companies Fight To Keep Global Warming Data Secret AP 2010
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Koch Nitrogen Co. LLC, a fertilizer producer, questions the EPA's desire to make unit-specific or facility-specific emissions available, calling it "misguided" since a change in pollution from a single factory is unlikely to influence policy on a global problem.
Greenhouse Gases Database: Companies Fight To Keep Global Warming Data Secret AP 2010
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Koch Nitrogen Co. LLC, a fertilizer producer, questions the EPA's desire to make unit-specific or facility-specific emissions available, calling it "misguided" since a change in pollution from a single factory is unlikely to influence policy on a global problem.
Greenhouse Gases Database: Companies Fight To Keep Global Warming Data Secret AP 2010
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I hate the way they use the term pollution in association with CO2...
China is now tops in CO2 emissions.... GayandRight 2008
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They want great respect for what they call pollution-free transportation.
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Burke believed that the source of the pollution is the Platonic pursuit of abstract perfection, the passion to change other people's personal, political, religious or economic views by political violence.
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Controlling 'pollution' is not the same thing at all, CO2 is not considered a pollutant ... in the US at least.
Global Warming, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009
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Julia Brownley, the Democrat who proposed the move, said: The biggest way to eliminate this kind of pollution is to ban it.
California to Become the First State to Ban Plastic Bags | Impact Lab 2010
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What we usually call ‘pollution’ is a shorthand way of saying that specific configurations of atoms are now someplace inconvenient or dangerous, whether it’s carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, microplastics in the ocean, forever chemicals (PFAS) in water supplies or even E. coli in sewage outfalls.
Energy and the Matter Problem - Future Observatory Journal Deb Chachra 2025
Prolagus commented on the word pollution
Polluzione, in Italian, is the medical term for a nocturnal emission, also known as wet dream.
Sono andato a vivere in campagna per scappare dalla polluzione.
March 31, 2009