toxicity

[tok-sis-i-tee]

noun

plural

toxicities 

1. the quality, relative degree, or specific degree of being toxic or poisonous.

   to determine the toxicity of arsenic.

toxicity

/ tɒkˈsɪsɪtɪ /

noun

1. the degree of strength of a poison

2. the state or quality of being poisonous

Other Word Forms

• hypertoxicity noun
• nontoxicity noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of toxicity¹

First recorded in 1880–85; toxic + -ity

Example Sentences

Last year, FAA investigators formally acknowledged the toxicity of bleed air contaminants in an internal report into two Southwest Airlines flights that collided with large birds in 2023.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

At worst, they carry risks of addiction, toxicity and overdose.

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Both Rogan and Strassman stressed the drug’s safety when used appropriately, noting the rare risk of liver toxicity only at high doses.

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Sourness, she continued, is “a bizarro cue, a signal reliable neither for toxicity nor for nutrition.”

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The department also recommends carrying naloxone, which can reverse 7-OH toxicity as well as opioid overdoses.

Read more on Los Angeles Times