toxin

[tok-sin]

noun

1. any poison produced by an organism, characterized by antigenicity in certain animals and high molecular weight, and including the bacterial toxins that are the causative agents of tetanus, diphtheria, etc., and such plant and animal toxins as ricin and snake venom.

toxin

/ ˈtɒksɪn /

noun

1. any of various poisonous substances produced by microorganisms that stimulate the production of neutralizing substances (antitoxins) in the body See also endotoxin exotoxin

2. any other poisonous substance of plant or animal origin

toxin

1. A poisonous substance, especially one produced by a living organism. Toxins can be products or byproducts of ordinary metabolism, such as lactic acid, and they must be broken down or excreted before building up to dangerous levels. Toxins can facilitate survival, as with snake venom that kills or immobilizes prey, or cyanide produced by some plants as a defense against being eaten. Bacterial toxins can sometimes be neutralized with antitoxins.

2. Compare antitoxin

Word History and Origins

Origin of toxin¹

First recorded in 1885–90; tox(ic) + -in ²

Synonym Study

See poison.

Example Sentences

She said her only concern had been the airborne toxins that the refinery may release into the air.

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This is a guy who made a mistake and has been hating himself for a long time after it, and he’s been dwelling in some dark corners of the internet, just consuming toxin.

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Researchers posing as beauticians secretly filmed a nurse trading prescriptions over WhatsApp, a pharmacist coaching clients to falsify records and a bogus doctor handing over Korean toxin vials for cash.

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From HIV to environmental toxins to police misconduct, the story is familiar: what goes uncounted is more easily ignored.

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Kennedy has long argued that rising diagnoses among U.S. children must mean more exposure to some outside influence: a drug, a chemical, a toxin, a vaccine.

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Related Words

• contamination 
• germ 
• infection 
• venom 
• virus