What does recontaminate mean?
Recontaminate means to contaminate something again, usually by causing impurities, microorganisms, chemicals, or other unwanted substances to enter it after it has been cleaned or treated. The word is especially common in environmental and public-health discussions: a river may recontaminate after wastewater is released, soil may recontaminate through groundwater, or previously sterilized food may become unsafe again. Unlike contaminate, which does not specify whether contamination is initial or repeated, recontaminate clearly emphasizes renewed contamination following an earlier cleaning or purification process. Its standard form is transitive, as in “recontaminate the water,” and it is normally used in formal, scientific, or technical writing. The word is useful because it distinguishes contamination that has returned from contamination that has never been removed. It is also related to decontaminate, its direct opposite, as well as to forms such as contamination and contaminant.
verbTo contaminate again; to make something impure or unsafe by introducing contaminants into it once more.
- To make something contaminated or impure again.
"Runoff could recontaminate the stream even after the downstream area had been cleaned."
"Careful handling is essential so that sterile samples do not recontaminate during transport."
"The treated soil was recontaminated when contaminated groundwater spread through it."
Sometimes clean is only temporary: recontaminate means contamination has returned.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does recontaminate come from?
The verb was formed in English by combining the prefix re-, indicating repetition, with contaminate. Contaminate comes from Latin contaminare, meaning “to touch, mingle, or defile,” which was built from a prefix meaning “together” and tangere, “to touch.” The same Latin foundation underlies English forms such as contamination, contaminant, and contaminator.
Related word forms
How recontaminate is actually used
Chiefly formal and used especially in environmental science, public health, food safety, and laboratory contexts. It is normally transitive, with the object identifying what has become contaminated again.