as in to clean
to remove dirty or dangerous substances (such as radioactive material) from (a person, thing, place, etc.)
Special workers were called in to decontaminate the area after the oil spill.
Related Words
Relevance
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of decontaminate
The sheriff's office says first responders were decontaminated at the hospital.
—
Dejanay Booth-Singleton, CBS News, 18 Feb. 2026
After receiving a settlement from his insurance company, Minds used the funds to decontaminate and fix his house.
—Abigail Adams, PEOPLE, 7 Jan. 2026
Radiation protection personnel allegedly responded to the incident quickly, pulling the worker from the water and decontaminating him safely.
—Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 24 Oct. 2025
Workers have complained of chemical burns from the waste material generated by the tunneling process, and firefighters must decontaminate their equipment after conducting rescues from the project sites.
—Anjeanette Damon, ProPublica, 10 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for decontaminate
Dejanay Booth-Singleton, CBS News, 18 Feb. 2026
After receiving a settlement from his insurance company, Minds used the funds to decontaminate and fix his house.
—Abigail Adams, PEOPLE, 7 Jan. 2026
Radiation protection personnel allegedly responded to the incident quickly, pulling the worker from the water and decontaminating him safely.
—Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 24 Oct. 2025
Workers have complained of chemical burns from the waste material generated by the tunneling process, and firefighters must decontaminate their equipment after conducting rescues from the project sites.
—Anjeanette Damon, ProPublica, 10 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for decontaminate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for decontaminate
Verb
-
Just a week after one woman on Jenner’s cleaning staff sued her, claiming her co-workers harassed and discriminated against her, another housekeeper has come out with allegations.—
Emily St. Martin,
Los Angeles Times,
1 May 2026
-
Mahan, who is running for governor, said in his official argument for Measure A that the revenue priorities include faster police, fire, and emergency response, as well as cleaning graffiti and maintaining parks.—
Ryan Macasero,
Mercury News,
1 May 2026
Verb
-
For some homeowners, their return signals an all-out battle, with sprays, tools and weekend hours spent trying to wipe them from the lawn for good.—
Ryan Brennan,
Sacbee.com,
1 May 2026
-
Rinse with warm water, then wipe dry.—
Kate Van Pelt,
The Spruce,
1 May 2026
Verb
-
The data shows that black and brown people spend much longer time, in longer lines, purging people, people literally showing up and not knowing that their names have been purged from the rolls.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
4 May 2026
-
On defense, the Kings have purged talent with limited or no value in return in recent years.—
Andrew Knoll,
Daily News,
2 May 2026
Verb
-
The team sweep capped a heady school year for American Heritage-Delray coach Brian Schleifer.—
Gary Curreri,
Sun Sentinel,
2 May 2026
-
The demonstration also touched on various issues that Americans have been facing including the rising cost of food and gas due in part to tariffs, the war in Iran and immigration sweeps that experts have said contributed to a shortage of agricultural workers.—
Ruben Vives,
Los Angeles Times,
2 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Decontaminate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/decontaminate. Accessed 8 May. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
