Word
polluted
Phoneticspol·lut·ed
US/pəˈɫutɪd/
UK/pəlˈuːtɪd/
Definition
adj. dirty or unsafe because of harmful chemicals or waste. You use this to describe air, water, or land that is no longer clean.
adj. contaminated with harmful or poisonous substances. Often used predicatively after 'become' or 'remain', or attributively to describe environmental conditions.
Examples
“The river is too polluted for swimming.”
“Many cities struggle with polluted air during the summer months when traffic is heavy.”
“The report highlighted how decades of industrial runoff had left the soil so heavily polluted that local agriculture was no longer viable without extensive remediation.”
Examples
simple
“The river is too polluted for swimming.”
contextual
“Many cities struggle with polluted air during the summer months when traffic is heavy.”
complex
“The report highlighted how decades of industrial runoff had left the soil so heavily polluted that local agriculture was no longer viable without extensive remediation.”
Usage
Often modified by adverbs of degree like 'heavily', 'badly', or 'severely'.
Pitfall
The smoke polluted the air.
The air is polluted.
While 'pollute' is a verb, learners often use the past participle 'polluted' as a verb when they actually intend to describe the state (adjective).
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/polluted