verb
- to make air, water, soil, or other natural resources dirty or harmful by adding waste or poisonous substances
- to corrupt or make impure in a moral or spiritual sense
Usage: formal
Examples
- Factories pollute the river with chemical waste.
- Car exhaust pollutes the air in major cities.
- Oil spills pollute ocean waters and harm marine life.
- The company was fined for polluting the groundwater.
- Plastic waste continues to pollute our beaches.
- He believed that violent movies pollute young minds.
- The scandal polluted the politician’s reputation.