pollution
noun
Simple meaning
Physical contamination, now usually the contamination of the environment by harmful substances, or by disruptive levels of noise, light etc.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
puhlooshuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
pəˈluʃən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
Physical contamination, now especially the contamination of the environment by harmful substances, or by disruptive levels of noise, light etc.
Something that pollutes; a pollutant.
Moral or spiritual corruption; impurity, degradation, defilement.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Physical contamination, now especially the contamination of the environment by harmful substances, or by disruptive levels of noise, light etc.
Used this way, pollution is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use pollution
- “Air pollution remains a serious concern in many large urban areas.”
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Pollution that is rendered harmless by natural processes and so causes no permanent harm.
Pollution resulting from an industrial plant discharging pollutants into the atmosphere.
Annoying and potentially harmful environmental noise.
Pollution that accumulates in the environment and may appear in the food chain.
Air pollution caused by fine particles of soot (as from power plants or diesel engines).
Annoying and potentially harmful environmental noise.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Antonyms
Sense: physical contamination
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.