Dictionary

wastewater en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree English waste Proto-Indo-European *wed- Proto-Indo-European *-r̥ Proto-Indo-European *wódr̥ Proto-Germanic *watōr Proto-West Germanic *watar Old English wæter Middle English water English water English wastewater From waste + water.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) Any water that has been used in some human domestic or industrial activity and, as a result, now contains waste products.
   • Near-synonyms: sewage, sullage, graywater, blackwater, washwater, poop water (informal)
   • The commission's recommendations would require the removal of toxins and heavy metals from wastewaters that now run into regional rivers and New York Harbor untreated, and collect at their bottom. 1976 September 10, Ronald Sullivan, “PROGRAM SHAPES UP ON HARBOR SLUDGE”, in The New York Times:
   • Flash forward to 2017, early in the Trump presidency. From the wastewaters of the internet, cryptic comments float up from an anonymous figure known only as Q. 2023 February 20, Dwight Garner, “QAnon and the Fear and Loathing of an American Conspiracy Theory”, in The New York Times:
   • As the zoogleal slime reenters the wastewater, excess solids and waste products are stripped off the media as sloughings. These sloughings are transported with the wastewater flow to a settling tank for removal. 2012, Frank Spellman, Revonna Bieber, Environmental Health and Science Desk Reference, page 831:

Forms

Coordinates

stormwater · nightsoil

Synonyms

sewage · graywater · sullage · blackwater · washwater · poop water

Translations (27)

hu szennyvíz (water containing waste products) · fi likavesi (water containing waste products) · fr eaux vannes (water containing waste products) · da spildevand (water containing waste products) · bg помия (water containing waste products) · fr eaux usées (water containing waste products) · nl afvalwater (water containing waste products) · az tullantı suları (water containing waste products) · it acque reflue (water containing waste products) · ru помо́и (water containing waste products) · eo rubakvo (water containing waste products) · it acque di scarico (water containing waste products) · pl ścieki (water containing waste products) · ja 廃水 (water containing waste products) · cmn 污水 (water containing waste products) · ru сто́чные во́ды (water containing waste products) · ml മലിനജലം (water containing waste products) · sv spillvatten (water containing waste products) · fa پساب (water containing waste products) · pt esgoto (water containing waste products) · fa فاضلاب (water containing waste products) · de Abwasser (water containing waste products) · sv avloppsvatten (water containing waste products) · fi jätevesi (water containing waste products) · az çirkab suları (water containing waste products) · ko 폐수 (water containing waste products) · ja 排水 (water containing waste products)