pollution
noun
pol·lu·tion
| \ pə-ˈlü-shən
\
\
Definition of pollution
Examples of pollution in a Sentence
industrial practices that have caused pollution of the air and water
The tests showed high levels of pollution in the water.
The fish are dying of pollution.
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Recent Examples on the Web
The ozone air pollution is particularly harmful for young children, seniors and those with respiratory and heart conditions, according to the district, which extended the Spare the Air alert into Friday. — Rick Hurd, The Mercury News, "‘Another hot day’: Bay Area temperatures soar again," 15 Aug. 2019 Microplastic pollution is now so commonplace that it's drifted to the furthest reaches of the Arctic. — Fox News, "'Ubiquitous' microplastics are airborne, reaching remote Arctic ice," 14 Aug. 2019 Overall, the state released the equivalent of 424 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2017, marking the second year in a row that planet-warming pollution was below the limit of 431 million metric tons the state must meet by 2020. — Los Angeles Times, "California’s planet-warming emissions declined in 2017, even as its biggest pollution source keeps rising," 12 Aug. 2019 Studies on what winds up in domestic rivers and lakes suggest us that the plastic pollution is mostly polystyrene and microbeads. — Stephen L. Carter, Twin Cities, "Stephen L. Carter: Get off the bandwagon of banning plastic bags," 7 Aug. 2019 Plastic pollution is hard to miss, but its effects are small compared with global warming or biodiversity loss. — The Economist, "Ever more countries are banning plastic bags," 24 July 2019 Related Stories The pollution is largely concentrated in agricultural communities in the Central Valley and Salinas Valley. — Alexei Koseff, SFChronicle.com, "Gavin Newsom signs $1 billion clean-water package for poor areas," 24 July 2019 Air pollution from the agricultural fires of the Roman Empire cooled Europe, and strategic Native American forest burning was far more responsible for prehistoric alterations in vegetation cover in the eastern United States than were climate shifts. — Rafil Kroll-zaidi, Harper's magazine, "Findings," 22 July 2019 In a creek next to the facility, where the small white beads stand out against the darkness of the sediment, nurdle pollution is obvious. — Julissa Treviño, WIRED, "Little Plastic 'Nurdles' Are Flooding Beaches and Waterways," 10 July 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'pollution.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for pollution
pollution
noun
English Language Learners Definition of pollution
: the action or process of making land, water, air, etc., dirty and not safe or suitable to use
: substances that make land, water, air, etc., dirty and not safe or suitable to use
See the full definition for pollution in the English Language Learners Dictionary
pollution
noun
pol·lu·tion
| \ pə-ˈlü-shən
\
\
Kids Definition of pollution
: the action of making something impure and often unsafe or unsuitable for use : the state of being polluted
pollution
noun
pol·lu·tion
| \ pə-ˈlü-shən
\
\
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