contamination

[ kuhn-tam-uh-ney-shuhn ]

noun

1. the act of contaminating, or of making something impure or unsuitable by contact with something unclean, bad, etc.
2. the act of contaminating, or of rendering something harmful or unusable by the addition of radioactive material:

   the contamination of food following a nuclear attack.

3. the state of being contaminated:

   The manufacturer recalled the product because of possible salmonella contamination.

4. Rare. something that contaminates a place or substance, as by making it impure, unsuitable, harmful, or unusable; a contaminant.
5. Linguistics.
   1. an alternation in a linguistic form due to the influence of a related form, as the replacement in English of earlier femelle with female through the influence of male.
   2. the process of forming blends. Compare blend ( def 9 ).

contamination

/ kənˌtæmɪˈneɪʃən /

noun

1. the act or process of contaminating or the state of being contaminated
2. something that contaminates
3. linguistics the process by which one word or phrase is altered because of mistaken associations with another word or phrase; for example, the substitution of irregardless for regardless by association with such words as irrespective

Other Words From

• noncon·tami·nation noun
• recon·tami·nation noun
• self-con·tami·nation noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of contamination¹

1375–1425; late Middle English contaminacioun < Late Latin contāminātiōn- (stem of contāminātiō ), equivalent to contāmināt ( us ) ( contaminate ) + -iōn- -ion

Example Sentences

Similar contamination problems occurred after the Tubbs Fire in Santa Rosa, and in Paradise after the Camp Fire, as E&E News Reports.

From Popular-Science

San Diego sued the energy company in 2007, claiming the city should recoup over $100 million in damages for the gas contamination.

From Voice of San Diego

They expected to see roughly 232 of these recoils, caused by known sources of background contamination.

From Quanta Magazine

More mundanely, the signal could come from contamination inside the experiment.

From Quanta Magazine

Srubar’s group worked in a lab where contamination is easy to avoid.

From Science News For Students

Shoddy well construction is considered a primary cause of groundwater contamination at drilling sites.

From The Daily Beast

The fact that the first true contamination happened in the controlled environment of a hospital will do little to calm nerves.

From The Daily Beast

There is one theory that they were both exposed by a Liberian worker in the contamination crew who fell ill.

From The Daily Beast

There has been a lot of concern about contamination of the evidence at the site.

From The Daily Beast

Could modern human DNA contamination affect the resultant radiocarbon date?

From The Daily Beast

There's no need for you to suffer any further contamination by mingling with such persons as are yonder.

From Project Gutenberg

Taboos of first chapter indicate that in the early ages the fear of contamination by woman predominated.

From Project Gutenberg

Norden, therefore, seems to go too far in giving this as an example of contamination of poetic by rhetoric.

From Project Gutenberg

His face was greenish from the effects of the special, contamination resistant mixture that they were breathing.

From Project Gutenberg

Likewise, if the persons who do the milking are not clean, the milk is subject to contamination from this source.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• contagion
• corruption
• disease
• epidemic
• infection
• poisoning
• pollution