Definition of "pollute" []

• To make unfit for or harmful to living things, especially by the addition of waste matter. See Synonyms at contaminate. (verb-transitive)
• To make less suitable for an activity, especially by the introduction of unwanted factors: The stadium lights polluted the sky around the observatory. (verb-transitive)
• To render impure or morally harmful; corrupt. (verb-transitive)
• To make ceremonially impure; profane: "Churches and altars were polluted by atrocious murders” ( Edward Gibbon). (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "I forgive you, said I, and wish you happy; yet, on this condition only, that you never again pollute my ears with the recital of your infamous passion."
• "The hook in the bill is the proposal of capping emissions of greenhouse gases each year, allowing companies to buy and sell permits to "pollute" - translated it means that a coal-fired electric plant who violates it carbon cap can buy a carbon credit from a hydro-producing power facility that didn't use their allotted carbon credits,,, it's called"
• "The flamboyant, bleach-blond politician also has called for taxing clothing commonly worn by Muslims, such as headscarves – or "head rags," as he once called them – because they "pollute" the Dutch landscape."