Dictionary

pollution en · NOUN

Pronunciation

(UK) audio
/pəˈluːʃən/ (Received-Pronunciation)
/pəˈluʃən/ (US)
/pəˈljuːʃən/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From Middle English pollucioun, pollucion (“desecration, impurity”), from Anglo-Norman pollutiun, Middle French pollution, pollucion, and their source, post-classical Latin pollūtiō (“defilement, desecration; nocturnal emission”) (4th century), from the participial stem of polluō (“to soil, defile, contaminate”), from por- (“before”) + -luō (“to smear”), related to lutum (“mud”) and luēs (“filth”). Compare Ancient Greek λῦμα (lûma, “filth, dirt, disgrace”) and λῦμαξ (lûmax, “rubbish, refuse”), Old Irish loth (“mud, dirt”), Lithuanian lutynas (“pool, puddle”). By surface analysis, pollute + -ion.

Meanings

(uncountable, usually) Physical contamination, now especially the contamination of the environment by harmful substances, or by disruptive levels of noise, light etc.
- "Flying only looks like a bargain because the cost of pollution is so cheap." 2023 August 9, “Network News: Network rail under fire for spending thousands of pounds on flights”, in RAIL, number 989, page 15:
- Pollution now kills three times as many people worldwide as Aids, tuberculosis and malaria combined. 2019, George Monbiot, “Cars are killing us. Within 10 years, we must phase them out”, in Guardian.:
- Schools across the country are moving to ban the school run amid growing concern about the devastating impact of air pollution on young people’s health. 2018 July 13, Matthew Taylor, The Guardian:
- Pollution levels are almost always higher in cities rather than the countryside, what with the cars, industry and so on.
- If successful, Edison and Ford—in 1914—would move society away from the[…]hazards of gasoline cars: air and water pollution, noise and noxiousness, constant coughing and the undeniable rise in cancers caused by smoke exhaust particulates. 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 1, in Internal Combustion:
(uncountable, usually) Something that pollutes; a pollutant.
(archaic, uncountable, usually) The desecration of something holy or sacred; defilement, profanation.
- Men who attend the Altar, and should most / Endevor Peace: thir strife pollution brings / Upon the Temple it self […]. 1667, John Milton, “Book XII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
- [T]he most gallant knights that ever wielded sword wasted their lives away in a struggle to seize it and hold it sacred from infidel pollution. 1869, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], The Innocents Abroad, or The New Pilgrims’ Progress; […], Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company. […], →OCLC:
(archaic, uncountable, usually) The ejaculation of semen outside of sexual intercourse, especially a nocturnal emission.
- According to Billuart and other theologians, pollution in sleep is not sin, unless voluntarily caused; if, however, it begins in sleep, and is completed in the half-waking state, with a sense of pleasure, it is a venial sin. 1927, Havelock Ellis, Studies in the Psychology of Sex, volume 1:
- When occasioned by a voluntary act it is called, simply, Pollution or Masturbation (q.v.); when excited, during sleep, by lascivious dreams, it takes the name Noctur'nal pollution, Exoneiro'sis, Oneirog'mos, Oneirog'onos, Gonorrhœ'a dormien'tium, G. oneirog'onos, G. Vera, G. libidino'sa, Proflu'vium Sem'inis, Spermatorrhœ'a, Paronir'ia salax, Night pollution. 1839, Robley Dunglison, Medical Lexicon, Blanchard, page 492:
(uncountable, usually) Moral or spiritual corruption; impurity, degradation, defilement.
- She condescended to wait on them at Pemberley, in spite of that pollution which its woods had received. 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], Pride and Prejudice: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:

Forms

Spelling	Features	Labels	Source
pollutions	Number=Plur		lexicographic

Translations (134)

az kirlənmə (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · fa-ira آلودِگی (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · th มลพิษ (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · lv piesārņojums (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · el μόλυνση (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · ja 汚染 (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · cmn 污染 (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · be забрудне́ньне (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · es contaminación (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · it inquinante (something that pollutes; pollutant — see also pollutant) · tr kirletme (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · hu szennyeződés (something that pollutes; pollutant — see also pollutant) · ml മലിനീകരണം (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · vi sự ô nhiễm (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · nb forurensing (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · hi कालुष्य (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · de Umweltverschmutzung (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · uk забру́днення (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · nl milieuvervuiling (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · th มลภาวะ (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · sh zagađenje (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · fr défilement (archaic: defilement, corruption) · nl milieuverontreiniging (archaic: defilement, corruption) · id pencemaran (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · sv förorening (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · eo poluo (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · es polución (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · sq ndotje (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · la contaminatio (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · ro poluare (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · ko 오염 (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · he זִהוּם (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · sl onesnaženje (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · got 𐌱𐌹𐍃𐌰𐌿𐌻𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃 (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · pt polução (archaic: emission of semen at other times than in sexual intercourse) · ru поллю́ция (archaic: emission of semen at other times than in sexual intercourse) · vo miotükam (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · fi saastuttaminen (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · fr pollution (archaic: emission of semen at other times than in sexual intercourse) · hi प्रदूषण (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · eo poluado (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · ca pol·luent (something that pollutes; pollutant — see also pollutant) · hy աղտոտում (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · ms pencemaran (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · be забру́джванне (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · el ρύπανση (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · et saaste (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · is mengun (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · be забрудне́нне (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · my ညစ်ညမ်းမှု (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · tr kirlilik (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · be палю́цыя (archaic: emission of semen at other times than in sexual intercourse) · gl contaminación (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · br saotradur (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · da forurening (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · nl pollutie (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · bg полю́ция (archaic: emission of semen at other times than in sexual intercourse) · sw uchafuzi (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · cmn 污染物 (something that pollutes; pollutant — see also pollutant) · mh baijin (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · sa प्रदूषण (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · da forurening (something that pollutes; pollutant — see also pollutant) · uk полю́ція (archaic: emission of semen at other times than in sexual intercourse) · kk ластау (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · it polluzione (archaic: emission of semen at other times than in sexual intercourse) · et reostus (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · gd truailleadh (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · fi itsesaastutus (archaic: emission of semen at other times than in sexual intercourse) · nl bezoedeling (archaic: defilement, corruption) · sv miljöförstöring (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · id polusi (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · fi saastuminen (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · el ρύπος (something that pollutes; pollutant — see also pollutant) · he זִהוּם (something that pollutes; pollutant — see also pollutant) · pt poluição (archaic: defilement, corruption) · cs poluce (archaic: emission of semen at other times than in sexual intercourse) · pt poluente (something that pollutes; pollutant — see also pollutant) · yue 污染 (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · hu pollúció (archaic: emission of semen at other times than in sexual intercourse) · prs آلُودَگِی (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · ja 汚染物質 (something that pollutes; pollutant — see also pollutant) · fr pollution (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · ca pol·lució (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · nl milieuverontreiniging (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · cy llygredd (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · de Verunreinigung (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · he זיהום (something that pollutes; pollutant — see also pollutant) · af omgewingsbesoedeling (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · be забру́джваньне (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · he סיאוב (archaic: defilement, corruption) · ky кирдөө (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · ar تَلَوُّث (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · enm pollucioun (archaic: emission of semen at other times than in sexual intercourse) · cs znečištění (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · ka დაბინძურება (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · ru загрязне́ние (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · bn দূষণ (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · he מְזַהֵם (something that pollutes; pollutant — see also pollutant) · nl pollutie (archaic: defilement, corruption) · te కాలుష్యం (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · mh baijin (something that pollutes; pollutant — see also pollutant) · iu ᐃᑖᖏᔭᖅᑐᖅ (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · it inquinamento (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · ka პოლუცია (archaic: emission of semen at other times than in sexual intercourse) · de Verschmutzung (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · ca contaminació (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · pl zanieczyszczenie (something that pollutes; pollutant — see also pollutant) · nl pollutie (something that pollutes; pollutant — see also pollutant) · tr kirlenme (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · nan-hbl 污染 (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · sh загађење (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · lt tarša (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · tg ифлоскунӣ (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · fi saaste (something that pollutes; pollutant — see also pollutant) · lo ມົນລະພິດ (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · nl smet (archaic: defilement, corruption) · pt poluição (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · az çirklənmə (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · he שפיכת זרע לבטלה (archaic: emission of semen at other times than in sexual intercourse) · bg замърся́ване (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · mn бохирдол (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · sk znečistenie (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · de Pollution (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · rsk заґадзованє (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · enm pollucioun (archaic: defilement, corruption) · nl vervuiling (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · hu környezetszennyezés (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · ar تَلْوِيث (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · pl zanieczyszczenie (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · rsk заґадзенє (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · nl vervuiling (something that pollutes; pollutant — see also pollutant) · nl milieuverontreiniging (something that pollutes; pollutant — see also pollutant) · ur آلُودَگی (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances) · mk загадување (the contamination of the environment by harmful substances)

pollution en · NOUN

Pronunciation

Etymology

Meanings

Forms

Antonyms

Deriveds

Relateds

Synonyms

Translations (134)