Standard Lemma guide

contaminant

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /kənˈtamɪnənt/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: K AH0 N T AE1 M AH0 N AH0 N T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

That which contaminates; an impurity; foreign matter.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • Put the lid on the jar to keep contaminants out.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: contaminator, contamination, pollutant

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a substance that contaminates

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: contamination

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: material, stuff

History

Etymology

Borrowed from French contaminant, present participle of contaminer (“to contaminate”), from Latin contāmināre. By surface analysis, contaminate + -ant.

Across languages

Translations

15 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: contaminant — that which contaminates
  • Czech: kontaminant — that which contaminates
  • Dutch: smetstof — that which contaminates
  • Indonesian: kontaminan — that which contaminates
  • Irish: ábhar salaithe — that which contaminates
  • Irish: ábhar truaillithe — that which contaminates
  • Irish: éilleán — that which contaminates
  • Malagasy: loto — that which contaminates
  • Māori: matū tāoke — that which contaminates
  • Polish: zanieczyszczenie — that which contaminates
  • Portuguese: contaminante — that which contaminates
  • Russian: контамина́нт (kontaminánt) — that which contaminates
  • Spanish: contaminante — that which contaminates
  • Vietnamese: chất gây ô nhiễm — that which contaminates
  • Vietnamese: chất gây bẩn — that which contaminates