mercury-contaminated
- adjective
:
contaminado por mercurio
- Eating mercury-contaminated seafood poses a serious health risk, especially to pregnant women and children.
Examples
-
Residents were warned not to drink water from the mercury-contaminated well until it was cleaned.
-
The fish in this river are mercury-contaminated.
-
The researchers found dangerously high levels of mercury in mercury-contaminated fish from the river.
-
Is this water mercury-contaminated?
-
Eating mercury-contaminated fish can lead to serious health issues for both children and pregnant women.
-
Birds that feed on mercury-contaminated fish may suffer from toxic effects over time.
-
The local government is testing the water for mercury-contaminated runoff after several reports of pollution.
Synonyms
1
8.1
Relating to the metal mercury or to mercury poisoning
Something that becomes unsafe because it touches something dirty or harmful
Not safe to use because dangerous chemicals are in the air, water, or soil
How Contaminated
Surface Forms
Morphology
mercury-contaminated = mercury + contaminated (transparent) = mercury + contaminate + ed
A clear compound of 'mercury' and the adjective 'contaminated' (itself formed by 'contaminate' + -ed), so the meaning 'containing/affected by mercury' is directly inferable.
Etymology
Mercury-contaminated combines mercury, the name of a shiny liquid metal once called 'quicksilver' that is poisonous, and contaminated, which means 'made dirty or unsafe'. So mercury-contaminated describes something that has dangerous mercury in it and is not safe to eat, drink, or use.