Making water, air, or land unclean or poisonous with waste or harmful substances.
From Latin 'polluere' (to soil, defile). 'Pollutus' meant morally or physically unclean; originally referred to spiritual contamination.
The word 'pollution' barely existed in English before the Industrial Revolution—people didn't have a concept for widespread environmental contamination because it didn't happen at that scale before factories.
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