cesspools
Underground filth collectors
Cesspools are underground tanks or pits for collecting sewage and wastewater.
Unlike septic systems, cesspools have no outlet—waste simply accumulates and slowly seeps into surrounding soil.
The word extends to anything foul or corrupt: The city had become a cesspool of crime and vice.
A cesspool of corruption, a cesspool of disease.
Infected with bacteria
- wastewaterContaminated drainage from buildings
- sludgeSemi-solid waste material
- effluentDischarged liquid waste
- drainageLiquid removal system
sanitation · excrement · blackwater · greywater · leachate · backflow · sewerage · latrine
Dirty, degraded living conditions
foulness · crud · gunk · murky · festering · brackish · ooze · dregs
Offensive, corrupt quality
- reekEmit strong odor
- malodorUnpleasant, offensive smell
- fetorIntense, offensive odor
- putridityState of rotting
rankness · miasma · sulfurous · nauseating · noisome · putrid · rotting · decomposition
Dishonest abuse of power
- depravityProfound moral corruption
- viceBad habit or deputy
- iniquityMoral wrongdoing, grave injustice
- moral decayDecline in ethical standards
degradation · den · hotbed · breeding ground · sink · sordid · underbelly · decadence
Environmental harm from waste
- toxinsHarmful biological substances
- bacteriaNucleus-free single-celled organisms
- pathogensDisease-causing microorganisms
- parasitesOrganisms feeding off hosts
disease · infection · biohazard · hazardous waste · groundwater · runoff · chemicals · unsanitary
septic
Infected with bacteria
- wastewaterContaminated drainage from buildings
- sludgeSemi-solid waste material
- effluentDischarged liquid waste
drainage · sanitation · excrement · blackwater · greywater · leachate · backflow · sewerage · latrine · outhouse
squalor
Dirty, degraded living conditions
slime · foulness · crud · gunk · murky · festering · brackish · ooze · dregs · sediment
foulness
Offensive, corrupt quality
putridity · rankness · miasma · sulfurous · nauseating · noisome · putrid · rotting · decomposition · fermentation
corruption
Dishonest abuse of power
moral decay · degradation · den · hotbed · breeding ground · sink · sordid · underbelly · decadence · rot
pollution
Environmental harm from waste
- toxinsHarmful biological substances
- bacteriaNucleus-free single-celled organisms
- pathogensDisease-causing microorganisms
parasites · disease · infection · biohazard · hazardous waste · groundwater · runoff · chemicals · unsanitary · public health
- sanitationsewage, sewers, cleaning, sewer, disinfecting
- early sewerage systemsdrainage channels, drains, sewers, culverts, open sewers
- sanitation historyprivies, outhouses, night soil, latrines, sewers
- Victorian sanitationsewers, sewage, drains, flush toilets, water closets
- water pollutionsewage, industrial waste, contaminants, algal bloom, toxic waste
- hellholeshellhole, dungeons, dungeon, dump, dumps
cesspoolssanctuaries
Protected places of refuge
utopias · havens · paradises · Edens · moral high ground