contamination

contaminate | American Dictionary

contaminate
verb[ T ]
us/kənˈtæm·əˌneɪt/
to make something less pure or make it poisonous:
The disease can be caused by a variety of viruses, bacteria, and other small organisms that contaminate food or water.

contaminated

adjectiveus/kənˈtæm·əˌneɪ·t̬ɪd/
contaminated water

contamination

noun[ U ]us/kənˌtæm·əˈneɪ·ʃən/
We discovered lead (= soft, gray metal ) contamination in the paint.

contaminate | Business English

contaminate
verb[ T ]
 ENVIRONMENTuk /kənˈtæmɪneɪt/us
to make something less pure or make it poisonous:
The government recently reported that 10% of farmland has been destroyed by pollution and that heavy metals contaminate 12 million tons of grain a year.
There are fears that exported products could contaminate food supplies abroad.

contamination

noun[ U ]
The report concluded that bacterial contamination at the factory could occur no matter what technology was being used.

Examples of contaminate

contaminate
These are, however, very clearly visible in the photographic record when present and it is apparent when they are contaminating the record.
The difference in the prevalence rates between different districts could be due to differences in hygiene practices, like drinking contaminated water and open defecation.
The close association of most contaminated sites with research stations has both advantages and disadvantages with respect to the logistics of clean up.
For such a thought, like prayer, is easily contaminated by greed, obsessions, fears and self-destructive impulses.
These activities could contaminate the water body and disturb the water column, microbial communities, and sediments.
The working hypothesis was that primary sporadic cases resulted from exposure to foods originating from, or contaminated by foods produced at a single food premises.
Had this approach not been used contaminated food may have continued to be distributed.
There is a significant reduction in hydrocarbon concentrations in sediments as the distance from the assumed hydrocarbon sources (contaminated sites located uphill) increases.
Faecal egg counts from 2002 tracer lambs showed that all four paddocks were contaminated with nematode parasites.
In fact, through irrigation, the microorganisms present in the water can contaminate crops, then pass into the food chain and eventually infect humans.
In fact, the spray or sprinkler irrigation produces bioaerosol, which can contaminate the crops that are likely to be eaten uncooked.
The second model involves derivation of the melts from a depleted lithospheric mantle source which was contaminated by subduction components.
It can easily be contaminated, and the intravenous bag of methadone is relatively unstable and needs to be changed frequently.
Paradoxically - as the unwritability topos suggests - only writing can keep literacy, and women, from contaminating the battlefield.
Wetted soil was packed into columns with the top 75 mm of the soil contaminated with diesel fuel.
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.