as in cleans
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for decontaminates
Verb
-
This product’s biggest highlight is its pH Power Technology, which cleans laundry using millions of micro-scrubbers that break down odors and dirt with ease.—
Katie Decker-Jacoby,
StyleCaster,
29 Apr. 2026 -
Kelly does the grocery shopping, but Lally still cleans and cooks for herself (and only takes one baby aspirin and one blood pressure pill a day).—
Tess Kenny,
Chicago Tribune,
28 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
From the crest—literally, the top of Crest Road—the view sweeps from the Bay Bridge across the full San Francisco skyline and out to the Golden Gate Bridge, then toward Sausalito and Mount Tamalpais.—
David Caraccio,
Sacbee.com,
28 Apr. 2026
-
Expanding removal sweeps for children who were never in danger inflicts unnecessary trauma without justification.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
26 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Haugh lets out the occasional wince, twitch and groan as Patterson kneads knotted muscles and purges lactic acid build-up so Florida’s leading scorer and ironman can continue to shoulder his heavy workload.—
Edgar Thompson,
The Orlando Sentinel,
18 Mar. 2026
-
Unless a Nest user subscribes to a service that allows for quick access to review footage recorded on a device, Google routinely purges the footage rather than retain it indefinitely, said Stacey Higginbotham, a policy fellow at Consumer Reports who specializes in cybersecurity issues.—
Safiyah Riddle,
Chicago Tribune,
11 Feb. 2026
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.
Cite this Entry
“Decontaminates.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/decontaminates. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
