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# contaminate

verb (contaminate, contaminates, contaminated, contaminating)

«contaminate» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. To make something dirty, impure or harmful by adding something bad to it, such as germs, poison or chemicals. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contaminate/#m1)
2. (science) To spoil an experiment or sample by letting something unwanted get in. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contaminate/#m2)
3. To have a bad influence on something (contaminate someone's thinking). [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contaminate/#m3)

### In the lessons

In science, cooking and food-safety lessons: do not let raw meat contaminate other food — use separate boards and wash your hands. In environment lessons, oil spills and sewage contaminate rivers and seas. In experiments, dirty equipment can contaminate results. It tells the reader something clean has been spoiled.

### Examples

- Raw chicken can contaminate other food with bacteria. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contaminate/#x1)
- Wash your hands so you don't contaminate the food. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contaminate/#x2)
- An oil spill contaminated the beach. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contaminate/#x3)
- Sewage contaminated the river after the storm. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contaminate/#x4)
- Don't touch the sample or you'll contaminate it. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contaminate/#x5)
- Chemicals from the old factory contaminated the soil. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contaminate/#x6)

### Note

Regular verb: contaminated, contaminating. Food safety: keep raw meat away from ready-to-eat food, use separate chopping boards, and wash hands after touching raw meat. Opposite: purify, decontaminate.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «contaminate» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contaminate/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«contaminate» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/contaminate.html) on Mova free.