pollute

Everyday

To pollute is to make air, water or land dirty and harmful by adding waste, smoke or chemicals. tree →

In the lessons

Used in science and geography lessons about the environment: factories, cars and litter pollute; we can reduce pollution by recycling, walking and cycling. Often passive: "The river is polluted."

Examples

• Cars pollute the air with fumes. tree →
• Do not pollute the river with rubbish. tree →
• Plastic bags pollute the ocean. tree →
• The factory was fined for polluting the lake. tree →
• Polluted water can make animals ill. tree →
• How can we pollute less? tree →
• Smoke from fires pollutes the air. tree →

Note

Noun: pollution; person or thing: polluter; adjective: polluted. Double l, one t. The opposite idea: clean up.

In Jewish tradition

The prophets use it for what is made impure by wrongdoing, so that it cannot be offered to God. Malachi says the people offered polluted bread on His altar.

Interpretation. The tradition reads such pollution as moral and spiritual, caused by sin, and calls for repentance and purity.

Examples

• Ginsburg asserts that the system of vowel polluting was invented by a Rabbi Mocha in Palestine about a.d. 570, who designed it to assist his pupils. (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893) tree →
• Will not that land be greatly polluted? (Prophets JER.3.1, JPS 1917) tree →
• Ye offer polluted bread upon Mine altar. (Prophets MAL.1.7, JPS 1917) tree →
• Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city! (Prophets ZEP.3.1, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Noun: pollution; person or thing: polluter; adjective: polluted. Double l, one t. The opposite idea: clean up.