noun · neutral
pollution
/pəˈluːʃən/po·LLU·sion
Band 4-5speakingtask2
harmful substances in the environment (air, water, soil)
Examples
“Air pollution in big cities can cause breathing problems.”
“Factories must reduce pollution to protect rivers.”
“Plastic pollution is a major issue for oceans.”
Band 8 sentence
“Urban pollution, especially from traffic and industry, significantly reduces life quality and increases health costs.”
Collocations
- air pollution
- reduce pollution
- pollution levels
Word family
pollute verbpolluted adjectivepollution noun
Common mistakes
pollutions→pollution
a pollution→pollution
many pollution→a lot of pollution / much pollution
Say it for a higher band
5dirty→6polluted→7+pollution
Synonyms
contamination
pollutant
Easily confused
contamination
“The laboratory reported contamination of the water samples.”
Related words
Learn this word with the rest of its set, and get reminded at the right time.
In Environment & Climate
Learn it with its set