Wastewater Meaning
/wˈeɪˌstwɔtər/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounAny water that has been used in some human domestic or industrial activity and, as a result, now contains waste products.
Sentence Examples
The ultraviolet light disinfects wastewater so completely that bacteria and other harmful microorganisms cannot grow.
Benedito's work has implications for the future of wastewater treatment.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The factory treated its ____ before releasing it into the river.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The city is building a new treatment plant to clean the ____ before it is released back into the river today.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree English waste Proto-Indo-European *wed- Proto-Indo-European *-r̥ Proto-Indo-European *wódr̥ Proto-Germanic *watōr Proto-West Germanic *watar Old English wæter Middle English water English water English wastewater From waste + water.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The commission's recommendations would require the removal of toxins and heavy metals from wastewaters that now run into regional rivers and New York Harbor untreated, and collect at their bottom."
— 1976 September 10, Ronald Sullivan, “PROGRAM SHAPES UP ON HARBOR SLUDGE”, in The New York Times:
"As the zoogleal slime reenters the wastewater, excess solids and waste products are stripped off the media as sloughings. These sloughings are transported with the wastewater flow to a settling tank for removal."
— 2012, Frank Spellman, Revonna Bieber, Environmental Health and Science Desk Reference, page 831:
"Flash forward to 2017, early in the Trump presidency. From the wastewaters of the internet, cryptic comments float up from an anonymous figure known only as Q."
— 2023 February 20, Dwight Garner, “QAnon and the Fear and Loathing of an American Conspiracy Theory”, in The New York Times:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The factory treated its ____ before releasing it into the river.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The city is building a new treatment plant to clean the ____ before it is released back into the river today.