The Collaborative International Dictionary
Contamination \Con*tam`i*na"tion\ (k[o^]n*t[a^]m`[i^]*n[=a]"sh[u^]n), n. [L. contaminatio.] The act or process of contaminating; pollution; defilement; taint; also, that which contaminates.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
early 15c., from Latin contaminationem (nominative contaminatio), noun of action from past participle stem of contaminare (see contaminate). Figurative sense is from c.1620; specifically of radioactivity from 1913.
Wiktionary
n. 1 The act or process of contaminating; pollution; defilement; taint; also, that which contaminates. 2 (context linguistics English) A process whereby words with related meanings come to have similar sounds. 3 (context linguistics etymology English) The influence of one form (often from a foreign language) on the historical development of another form to which it may be related in meaning. 4 The process of making a material or surface unclean or unsuited for its intended purpose, usually by the addition or attachment of undesirable foreign substances.
WordNet
n. the state of being contaminated [syn: taint]
a substance that contaminates [syn: contaminant]
the act of contaminating or polluting; including (either intentionally or accidentally) unwanted substances or factors [syn: pollution] [ant: decontamination]
Wikipedia
Contamination is the presence of an unwanted constituent, contaminant or impurity in a material, physical body, natural environment, workplace, etc.
Contamination is a 1980 Italian-West German science fiction- horror film directed by Luigi Cozzi and starring Ian McCulloch. The film is about an alien cyclops which causes a man to place eggs all over earth. The eggs release a gelatinous goo that causes people to explode as part of their means to take over the world.
Contamination is a 1996 album by Belgian electro-industrial act Suicide Commando.
Contamination is the presence of an unwanted constituent in another substance.
Contamination may also refer to:
Usage examples of "contamination".
My father raised my level to Acantha to purge the contamination of pelcia and chaitra away .
Apparently the sulfur bacteria had overgrown the backflow sludge, and coupled with the fungal contamination from the downstream scrubbers created a disgusting mix of smells.
If there had been any contamination in milk from the dairy, we should have seen some additional cases by now.
Warning labels, which spoke whether she pressed them or not, advised her to check constantly for cross-species contamination.
Prompt radiation, superstellar temperatures, electromagnetic pulse, thermal pulse, blast overpressure, fallout, disease, loss of immunity, cold, dark, contamination, inherited deformity, ozone depletion: with what hysterical ferocity, with what farcical disproportion, do nuclear weapons loathe human life.
However the present danger lies in the possibility that the paraphysical emanations of the deteriorated units could spread the contamination.
He vaguely remembered that Piegan couples had to come from two separate clans in order to avoid the contamination of incest.
He introduces us to fighting men, jockeys, thieves, and ratcatchers, without our running any risk of contamination.
For in the next ten minutes I flew perhaps a hundred oval patterns, approaching the object, retreating from contamination, then reapproaching, again and again, trying to keep in contact with it until it got close enough for inspection.
Ancestors, under their gentle, probing care, was meant to erase all pollution, all contamination, all taint, all pain, all shame left behind from the dreadful ordeal the Linyaari spacefarers had faced.
Without that experience, the rich cultural contamination so beloved of her stepparents, she would be able to fit in here.
Humans explored and intruded again it, and built their stations and lived their lives, a biolq, ical contamination of the infinite, a local and tempora condition.
The boys donned antiradiation suits to protect themselves from possible contamination while using the Transmittaton.
Himself, hunched over in an autocab as the sordid guilt over what he had been doing at Jack It Up merged sickeningly with the horror of the contamination warnings sirening in his head.
There is only the pure duality of polarisation, each one free from any contamination of the other.