Standard Lemma guide

decontaminate

verb · 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.

  • UK: /diːkənˈtæmɪneɪt/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: D IY0 K AH0 N T AE1 M AH0 N EY2 T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

verb

Meaning 1

To remove contamination from (something), rendering it safe.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

rid of contamination

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • The soil around the housing development had to be decontaminated by the city

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: contaminate

Broader terms: cleanse, clean

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *de Proto-Indo-European *-h1 Proto-Indo-European *déh1 Proto-Italic *dē Latin dē Latin dē-der. English de- English contaminate English decontaminate From de- + contaminate.

Across languages

Translations

13 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Danish: rense — to remove contamination from (something), rendering it safe
  • Danish: desinficere — to remove contamination from (something), rendering it safe
  • French: décontaminer — to remove contamination from (something), rendering it safe
  • German: dekontaminieren — to remove contamination from (something), rendering it safe
  • German: entseuchen — to remove contamination from (something), rendering it safe
  • Irish: dí-éilligh — to remove contamination from (something), rendering it safe
  • Irish: díthruailligh — to remove contamination from (something), rendering it safe
  • Italian: decontaminare — to remove contamination from (something), rendering it safe
  • Japanese: 除染する (josen suru) — to remove contamination from (something), rendering it safe
  • Luxembourgish: entgëften — to remove contamination from (something), rendering it safe
  • Norwegian Bokmål: dekontaminere — to remove contamination from (something), rendering it safe
  • Russian: дезактиви́ровать (dezaktivírovatʹ) — to remove contamination from (something), rendering it safe
  • Spanish: descontaminar — to remove contamination from (something), rendering it safe