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contaminar

to contaminate

verb kohn-tah-mee-NAHR Rare
Animals & Nature Environment

Origin: From Latin contaminare ('to defile by contact').

Also means

to pollute

Usage Note

Contaminar is used for environmental pollution (contaminar el río, 'to pollute the river') and for non-physical corruption — contaminar a alguien con ideas extremistas ('to contaminate someone with extremist ideas'). The derived noun contaminación and adjective contaminado/a are both common. Unlike English 'contaminate', it is equally at home in everyday speech and in technical/scientific registers.

Examples

"Las fábricas contaminan el aire de la ciudad."

Natural Translation

Factories pollute the city's air.

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