Meanings
plural pollutants
- A foreign substance that makes something dirty, or impure, especially waste from human activities.
Acid rain forms when water in the atmosphere condenses on particles containing acid-forming pollutants, such as sulfate produced by the burning of fossil fuels and nitrogen oxides from automobile exhausts.
1987 January 20, “Airborne Pollutants”, in The New York Times, →ISSNSynonyms: adulterant, contamination, pollution, adulterant, adulterator, contaminant, contamination, contaminator
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA foreign substance that makes something dirty, or impure, especially waste from human activities.
Origin
Translations
Bulgarian замърсител
- замърсител (zamărsitel)something that pollutes
Catalan contaminant
- contaminantsomething that pollutes
Chinese Mandarin 污染物
- 污染物 (wūrǎnwù)something that pollutes
Czech škodlivina
- škodlivinasomething that pollutes
Dutch vervuiler
- vervuilersomething that pollutes
Esperanto poluaĵo
- poluaĵosomething that pollutes
Finnish saaste, epäpuhtaus
- saastesomething that pollutes
- epäpuhtaussomething that pollutes
French polluant
- polluantsomething that pollutes
German Schadstoff, umweltgefährlicher Stoff
- Schadstoffsomething that pollutes
- umweltgefährlicher Stoffsomething that pollutes
Hungarian szennyező anyag
- szennyező anyagsomething that pollutes
Indonesian polutan
- polutansomething that pollutes
Italian sostanza inquinante, inquinante
- sostanza inquinantesomething that pollutes
- inquinantesomething that pollutes
Japanese 汚染物質
- 汚染物質 (osen-busshitsu)something that pollutes
Korean 오염물질
- 오염물질 (oyeommuljil)something that pollutes
Māori parawhakakino, parawhakaparu
- parawhakakinosomething that pollutes
- parawhakaparusomething that pollutes
- parakinosomething that pollutes
- paratakakinosomething that pollutes
Polish substancja zanieczyszczająca środowisko
- substancja zanieczyszczająca środowiskosomething that pollutes
Portuguese poluente
- poluentesomething that pollutes
Russian загрязни́тель, загрязня́ющее вещество́
- загрязни́тель (zagrjaznítelʹ)something that pollutes
- загрязня́ющее вещество́ (zagrjaznjájuščeje veščestvó)something that pollutes
Slovak škodlivina
- škodlivinasomething that pollutes
Spanish contaminante
- contaminantesomething that pollutes
Ukrainian забру́днювач
- забру́днювач (zabrúdnjuvač)something that pollutes
Cite this entry
pollutant. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pollutant
“pollutant.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pollutant. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pollutant,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pollutant.
Source: pollutant on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.