cesspool

noun

cess·​pool ˈses-ˌpül 

1

: an underground reservoir for liquid waste (such as household sewage)

2

: a filthy, evil, or corrupt place or state

a cesspool of corruption

Synonyms

• Augean stable
• Gomorrah
• sink

Examples of cesspool in a Sentence

The region had become a cesspool of pollution.

over the decades the once-respectable neighborhood had become an urban cesspool

Recent Examples on the Web

Bob Dylan has returned to his favorite social-media cesspool of choice, X, not to review a trio of SNL curveballs from a certain young admirer but to instead memorialize a recently deceased friend and collaborator. —Devon Ivie, Vulture, 27 Jan. 2025

But state law can't supercede federal law, so there's nothing Michigan lawmakers can do to break through the scum on the surface of these cesspools. —M.l. Elrick, Detroit Free Press, 2 June 2024

In the absence of the local paper, will the void be filled by the unregulated cesspool of social media where facts and truth are often unnecessary baggage? —Contributed Content, Twin Cities, 6 Feb. 2025

The state of social media, meanwhile—fractured, disorienting, and prone to boosting all manner of misinformation—can be succinctly described as a cesspool. —Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 29 Jan. 2025

Word History

Etymology

perhaps by folk etymology from Middle English suspiral vent, tap on a main pipe, settling pool, from Anglo-French suspirale vent, from suspirer to sigh, exhale, from Latin suspirare, literally, to draw a long breath — more at suspire

First Known Use

1783, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for cesspool

• ampoule
• bascule
• carpool
• ferrule
• footstool
• guayule
• lobule
• misrule
• preschool
• pustule
• whirlpool
• boule

Kids Definition

cesspool

noun

cess·​pool ˈses-ˌpül 

: an underground pit or tank for liquid waste (as household sewage)