pollutant

pollutant — noun

1. a material or kind of waste that makes air, water, or land dirty and harmful.

1.nounC1
Definition

a material or kind of waste that makes air, water, or land dirty and harmful.

Example

Smoke from the old buses was the town's worst air pollutant.

collocation: air pollutant

Tests found a dangerous pollutant near the factory drain after the storm.

Common collocations
  • air pollutant
  • water pollutant
  • soil pollutant
  • major pollutant
  • chemical pollutant
Synonyms
  • contaminant

    broader; can be any unwanted substance in food, water, or another material

  • toxin

    more scientific and usually stresses poisonous effects on living things

  • emission

    often used for gas or particles released into the air by engines or factories

  • waste

    broader and less specific; does not always imply direct environmental harm

Grammar Patterns

a pollutant in [air/water/soil]

list/name something as a pollutant

Usage Note

Often paired with a word showing where the harm happens, such as air, water, river, or soil. More formal than everyday words like smoke or waste, and common in science, government, and news writing.

Common Mistakes

Traffic pollution is the main pollutant in this city.
Traffic exhaust is the main pollutant in this city.
pollutant names the harmful substance; pollution names the dirty condition or damage.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

A pollutant is a substance that harms the environment by making air, water, or land dirty. Contaminant is broader: it can be any unwanted substance, even in food, blood, or lab samples, and it does not always suggest environmental damage. Toxin is more scientific and usually stresses that the substance is poisonous to living things. Waste means unwanted material in general, but waste only becomes a pollutant when it enters a place where it causes harm. You can call bus smoke an air pollutant, but dirt on your shirt is not a pollutant. Dirty river water may contain contaminants, and some of them may also be toxins.

pollutant ↗contaminanttoxin ↗waste ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • major pollutant
  • industrial pollutant
  • release pollutants into

Prepositions

Etymology

LatinEnglish

Pollutant was formed in English from pollute and the ending -ant, which can name a thing that does an action. Pollute goes back to Latin polluere, meaning to make something dirty or unclean. The noun became especially useful in modern environmental writing for harmful substances in air, water, and soil.