contaminant Hear it!

contaminant Definition

con·tami·nant (kən tamə nənt)

noun

a substance that contaminates another substance, the air, water, etc.

contaminant Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • degrade: Environmental bionanotechnology - for example the use of nanoscale instruments to degrade industrial contaminants in soil.
  • remove: Uppsala were noted for their care in removing contaminants.
  • trace: Specially produced mixtures of CO 2 and trace contaminants were obtained from a specialist gas company.
  • absorb: Activated Carbon Cloth is most commonly used in preventive conservation to retard the corrosion of metals by absorbing contaminants such as acetic acids.
  • bond: In the first, firmly bonded surface contaminants are removed using a clay bar and a lubricant.
  • eliminate: Broiled, to eliminate contaminants found in freshwater fish.

Noun used with modifier

  • groundwater: In the Great Stour catchment, 26 sites of waste disposal have been identified by the Environment Agency as potential groundwater contaminants.
  • chemical: Next was a large bin full of powder which would be sprinkled on the suit to dry up any chemical contaminant.

Adjective modifier

  • inorganic: The optimum standards for tracing inorganic contaminants in soil, sediment, water, oil, plants and food materials.
  • airborne: Experts tell us that a safe room inside your house or inside your apartment can help protect you from airborne contaminants for several hours.
  • particulate: An integral strainer on the inlet side should prevent possible malfunction from particulate contaminants in the mains gas supply.
  • harmful: Sensitive new testing kits can detect tiny amounts of potentially harmful toxic contaminants in foods.
  • microbial: This is crucially important for storage with liquid nitrogen owing to the high levels of accumulated microbial contaminants in liquid nitrogen storage vessels.
  • radioactive: All three investigations found raised levels of radioactive contaminants, far in excess of background levels.

Modifies a noun

  • plume: This has direct implications for monitoring and interpreting data from contaminant plumes in unconfined aquifers with and without remedial activities.
  • migration: The impact of clogging on both contaminant migration and the service life of the liner system are discussed.
  • concentration: All of the graphs show variations in the measured inlet contaminant concentrations.
  • transport: There is some progress on the finite element modeling of contaminant transport problems.

Preposition: in

  • foodstuff: Draft Commission Regulation setting maximum limits for certain contaminants in foodstuffs.
  • soil: In theory, threshold and action values based on the total concentration of the contaminant in soil would establish the boundary between these zones.