pollutant Definition
pol·lu·tant (pə lo̵̅o̅t′'nt)
noun
something that pollutes; esp., a harmful chemical or waste material discharged into the water or atmosphere
Etymology: < pollut(e) + -ant
pollutant Usage Examples
Converse of object
- emit: Not only do they use less gas, tho, they also emit fewer pollutants into the air.
- acidify: There is continued pressure to decrease emissions of acidifying pollutants and VOCs.
- inhale: Other causes include drinking excessive amounts of alcohol and exposure to inhaled chemical pollutants, such as paint fumes or asbestos fibers.
- degrade: Bioremediation - The ability of soil microorganisms to degrade organic pollutants may be enhanced in a bioremediation system.
- absorb: Special papers are now available which can absorb pollutants ( see ' Charcoal Cloth ' ).
- dissolve: Dissolved inorganic pollutants such as ammonia in solution and sodium chloride can be separated successfully.
Adjective modifier
- gaseous: The cheapest sensors are basic diffusion tubes for one gaseous pollutant.
- airborne: According to the US EPA, 9 % of the airborne pollutants creating ground level ozone come from the VOCs in paint.
- persistent: They are known as POPs, or persistent organic pollutants.
- atmospheric: They also emit higher levels of other major atmospheric pollutants.
- toxic: A FOE survey of available data showed toxic pollutants in groundwater around 18 landfill sites in East Anglia.
- particulate: These degradation processes produce gaseous and particulate pollutants into the indoor air.
Modifies a noun
- dispersion: Accurate prediction of pollutant dispersion is an important area of environmental research.
- linkage: A key element within the Part IIA regime for determining whether a site poses a risk, is the pollutant linkage concept.
- aerosol: Analysis suggests that at head height, typically 20 % of pollutant aerosols either become charged or carry excess electric charge.
- concentration: Box 3 The graph on the left shows an example of how the pollutant concentrations can vary between closely situated streets.
- emission: Numerous dedicated software packages are being used in the field of control technology to minimize air pollutant emissions, mainly NOx.
- nitrogen: The hi-tech paving slabs have a top layer containing titanium dioxide which helps to break down pollutant nitrogen dioxide gas from car fumes.
Noun used with modifier
- transboundary: SS: It should be dealt with only as it fits into transboundary pollutant issues and acidification.
- air: She uses these models to examine the impact of air pollutants at the cellular level.
Browse dictionary entries near pollutant
- ‹ pollster
- ‹ pollock
- ‹ polliwog
- ‹ pollinosis
- ‹ pollinize
- ‹ pollinium
- ‹ polliniferous
- ‹ polling the jury
- ‹ polling
- ‹ pollinate

