# pollution

Pronunciation: US say "puh-LOO-shuhn" /pəˈluʃən/; UK say "puh-LYOO-shuhn" /pəˈljuːʃən/

## Noun

1. The contamination of the environment by harmful substances, or by disruptive levels of noise, light, and similar disturbances.
   - Simple: The dirtying of air, water, or land by harmful substances, or by too much noise or light.
   - _Decades of industrial pollution left the harbor unsafe for fishing._
   - _Light pollution from the city makes it hard to see the stars._
2. A substance or agent that pollutes; matter that contaminates its surroundings.
   - Simple: A substance that makes air, water, or land dirty or harmful.
   - _The pollution drifting from the smokestack coated nearby rooftops in soot._
   - _Engineers tracked the pollution back to a single leaking pipe._
3. Moral or spiritual corruption; impurity, degradation, or defilement of character.
   - Simple: A loss of goodness in the mind or spirit that leaves a person morally unclean.
   - _The novel traces the slow pollution of an idealist's conscience by power._
   - _Corruption at the top spread its pollution through every level of the court._

## Noun

4. The desecration of something holy or sacred; defilement or profanation of what is consecrated. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: The act of treating a holy thing in a way that makes it unclean or shows no respect.
   - _The chronicle records the pollution of the cathedral when troops stabled horses in the nave._
   - _Priests performed rites to cleanse the pollution of the desecrated altar._
5. The emission of semen outside of sexual intercourse, especially an involuntary discharge during sleep. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: The release of semen from the body at a time other than sex, especially during sleep.
   - _The penitent recorded each pollution in his diary as a moral failing._
   - _Monastic rules prescribed prayers after an involuntary pollution during the night._

## Origin

From Middle English pollucioun ("desecration, impurity"), by way of Anglo-Norman and Middle French, from post-classical Latin pollūtiō ("defilement, desecration"). This comes from the verb polluō ("to soil, defile, contaminate"), formed from por- ("before") and -luō ("to smear"), and related to lutum ("mud") and luēs ("filth").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/pollution (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).