contaminate「污染」的运用及其同义词比较

Word of the Day: March 3, 2021

contaminate

污染；弄脏；毒害

verb kun-TAM-uh-nayt

Definition

1 a : to soil, stain, corrupt, or infect by contact or association

接触或关联的影响，使变脏，使污染，使破坏

b : to make inferior or impure by admixture

混合物变差了或混合物不纯净了

2 : to make unfit for use by the introduction of unwholesome or undesirable elements

不合时宜地侵入了不健康的或侵入了不受欢迎的某物

Examples

“Marin Audubon Society president Barbara Salzman said she plans to review the citys environmental report, but expressed concern about the potential for tank leakage to contaminate groundwater.” — Will Houston, The Marin Independent Journal (Marin County, California), 28 Jan. 2021

“Marin Audubon Society president Barbara Salzman 说，她计划审查该市的环境报告，但对储油罐泄漏可能污染地下水的可能性表示担忧。

ps：这个事件起因是加油站地下深层埋了大量储油罐。

“As to any recreation with other children of my age, I had very little of that; for the gloomy theology of the Murdstones made all children out to be a swarm of little vipers …, and held that they contaminated one another.” — Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, 1849-1850

像与我同龄的孩子们的娱乐活动，我就很少，for the gloomy theology of the Murdstones 把所有的孩子都说成是一群小毒蛇……并且认为他们互相污染。”

Did You Know?

Contaminate, taint, pollute, and defile mean to make impure or unclean. Contaminate implies intrusion of or contact with dirt or foulness from an outside source (logically enough, it derives from the Latin word tangere, meaning “to touch”). Taint stresses a loss of purity or cleanliness that follows contact (“tainted meat”). Pollute, sometimes interchangeable with contaminate, may imply that the process which begins with contamination is complete and that what was pure or clean has been made foul, poisoned, or filthy (“the polluted waters of the river”). Defile implies befouling of what could or should have been kept clean and pure or held sacred, and commonly suggests violation or desecration (“vandals defiled the mausoleum”).

Contaminate, taint, pollute, and defile 的意思是使物质变差，变得不干净。“contamination”意为外来污物的侵入或接触(从逻辑上讲，它来源于拉丁语tangere，意思是“to touch「接触」”)。Taint 强调接触后失去纯净或清洁(“tainted meat「被污染的肉」”)。Pollute，有时与contaminate互换，可能意味着从污染开始的过程已经完成，曾经纯净或干净的东西已经变得foul「肮脏」、变得 poisoned「有毒」或变得filthy「污秽」。Defile指的是对本应或本该保持清洁、纯净或神圣的东西玷污了，通常表示侵犯或亵渎(“vandals defiled the mausoleum「破坏者玷污了陵墓」”)。

Word Family Quiz

What adjective beginning with “c” is related to Latin tangere and means “depending on something else that might or might not happen”?