Word
sewage
US/ˈsuədʒ/
UK/sˈuːɪdʒ/
Definitions
01waste water
n. the mixture of water and waste that comes from toilets and sinks and goes into pipes.
n. liquid and solid waste matter carried off by sewers; typically a suspension of water and organic waste from domestic or industrial sources.
“The city built a new plant to treat sewage before it reaches the ocean.”
“Environmental regulations require the facility to treat raw sewage to a high standard before discharging the effluent into the local river system.”
Synonyms
02the pipe system
n. the system of pipes used to carry waste away.
n. the system of sewers or the process of removing waste; a synonym for sewerage.
“The old town had a very simple system of sewage that often leaked.”
“The Victorian engineers revolutionised urban health by installing a comprehensive sewage system beneath the city's main thoroughfares.”
Archaic
Usage
In modern English, 'sewerage' is preferred for the infrastructure, while 'sewage' refers to the waste itself.
Real-World Examples
“Then a human comes along and eats the irrigated food or drinks the water and gets sick, releasing more oocysts into sewage systems.” Etymology
From sewer (“system of pipes used to remove human waste and to provide drainage”) + -age or from sew (“to drain or draw off water”) + -age.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/sewage