Agent Orange
a powerful herbicide and defoliant containing trace amounts of dioxin, a toxic impurity suspected of causing serious health problems, including cancer and genetic damage, in some persons exposed to it and birth defects in their offspring: used by U.S. armed forces during the Vietnam War to defoliate jungles.
Origin of Agent Orange
1Words Nearby Agent Orange
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use Agent Orange in a sentence
Unfortunately, the waste oil had a dioxin concentration 2,000 times higher than that in Agent Orange.
It is considered among the most toxic chemicals known and is the action compound in the notorious Agent Orange.
The United States used Agent Orange against the North Vietnamese (and in South Vietnam).
Leslie H. Gelb: Obama Is Right on Chemical Warfare in Syria | Leslie H. Gelb | April 28, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTWhen Dean died at age 42 of what was believed to be Agent Orange–related cancer, Hagel gave the eulogy.
Chuck Hagel Deserves Fair Hearing for Defense-Secretary Post | John Avlon | December 24, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
British Dictionary definitions for Agent Orange
a highly poisonous herbicide used as a spray for defoliation and crop destruction, esp by US forces during the Vietnam War
Origin of Agent Orange
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for Agent Orange
A mixture of equal amounts of two herbicides known as 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T, and trace amounts of the toxic contaminant dioxin (a byproduct of the manufacture of 2,4,5-T). It was used in the Vietnam War to defoliate areas of forest.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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