contaminating

Thân thiện

The factory is contaminating the nearby river with industrial waste.

Definition

1. Adjective:
   • That infects or taints: Describing something that makes another substance, environment, or object impure, unclean, or harmful by introducing a polluting or infectious agent.
   • Spreading pollution or contamination; especially radioactive contamination: Describing an action or agent that actively disseminates pollutants or contaminants, with a specific emphasis on radioactive substances.

Usage

• The word "contaminating" is used as an adjective to describe a substance, process, or agent that causes contamination. It often implies an active or ongoing process of making something impure.
• It is commonly used in scientific, environmental, and public health contexts.

Examples

• Adjective:
  • The contaminating agent in the water supply was identified as a toxic chemical. (The polluting substance making the water impure was identified.)
  • The factory was fined for its contaminating emissions. (The factory was fined for its emissions that spread pollution.)
  • A contaminating cloud of radioactive dust spread from the accident site. (A cloud carrying radioactive pollution spread from the site.)

Advanced Usage

• "Contaminating influence": A metaphorical use describing a person, idea, or factor that has a corrupting or morally polluting effect on others or a situation.
  • The scandal was a contaminating influence on the entire administration.
• Used in technical reports to describe processes: "The contaminating process was halted by the safety protocols."

Variants and Related Words

• Contaminate (verb): To make something impure or polluted by contact or mixture.
  • The oil spill contaminated the coastline.
• Contamination (noun): The process or state of being contaminated.
  • The contamination of the soil required a major cleanup.
• Contaminant (noun): A polluting or infectious substance that causes contamination.
  • Tests detected a dangerous contaminant in the food.

Synonyms

• Polluting: Making something dirty or impure, especially with waste or chemicals.
• Tainting: Spoiling the quality or purity of something; corrupting.
• Defiling: Making something dirty or no longer pure, often in a moral or sacred context.
• Infecting (in a biological/medical context): Contaminating with a disease-causing organism.

Related Phrases

• Contaminating source: The origin point of the pollution.
  • The investigators searched for the contaminating source.
• Cross-contaminating: The process by which bacteria or other microorganisms are unintentionally transferred from one substance or object to another.
  • Use separate cutting boards to avoid cross-contaminating raw meat and vegetables.

Related Idioms

• A contaminating effect: An idiom describing how one negative element can spread and spoil other things.
  • The leader's dishonesty had a contaminating effect on the team's culture.

Học thuật

Adjective

1. that infects or taints
2. spreading pollution or contamination; especially radioactive contamination
   • the air near the foundry was always dirty
   • a dirty bomb releases enormous amounts of long-lived radioactive fallout

Từ đồng nghĩa

• corrupting
• dirty