pollution

/pəˈljuːʃən/

pollution means physical contamination, now especially the contamination of the environment by harmful substances, or by disruptive levels of noise, light etc. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 70 out of 100.

pollution is pronounced /pəˈljuːʃən/.

Etymology

From Middle English pollucioun, pollucion (“desecration, impurity”), from Anglo-Norman pollutiun, Middle French pollution, pollucion, and their source, post-classical Latin pollūtiō (“defilement, desecration; nocturnal emission”) (4th century), from the participial stem of polluō (“to soil, defile, contaminate”), from por- (“before”) + -luō (“to smear”), related to lutum (“mud”) and luēs (“filth”). Compare Ancient Greek λῦμα (lûma, “filth, dirt, disgrace”) and λῦμαξ (lûmax, “rubbish, refuse”), Old Irish loth (“mud, dirt”), Lithuanian lutynas (“pool, puddle”).

noun

Physical contamination, now especially the contamination of the environment by harmful substances, or by disruptive levels of noise, light etc.“Pollution levels are almost always higher in cities rather than the countryside, what with the cars, industry and so on.”
Something that pollutes; a pollutant.
The desecration of something holy or sacred; defilement, profanation.“Men who attend the Altar, and should most / Endevor Peace: thir strife pollution brings / Upon the Temple it self […].”
The ejaculation of semen outside of sexual intercourse, especially a nocturnal emission.“When occasioned by a voluntary act it is called, simply, Pollution or Masturbation (q.v.); when excited, during sleep, by lascivious dreams, it takes the name Noctur'nal pollution, Exoneiro'sis, Oneirog'mos, Oneirog'onos, Gonorrhœ'a dormien'tium, G. oneirog'onos, G. Vera, G. libidino'sa, Proflu'vium Sem'inis, Spermatorrhœ'a, Paronir'ia salax, Night pollution.”
Moral or spiritual corruption; impurity, degradation, defilement.“She condescended to wait on them at Pemberley, in spite of that pollution which its woods had received.”