Agent Orange


noun
  1. 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

1
First recorded in 1965–70; so called from the color of the identifying stripe on the drums in which it was stored

Words Nearby Agent Orange

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How to use Agent Orange in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for Agent Orange

Agent Orange

noun
  1. 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

1
C20: named after the identifying colour stripe on its container

Collins 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

Agent Orange

  1. 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.

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