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.

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

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.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Agent Orange¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of Agent Orange¹

C20: named after the identifying colour stripe on its container

Example Sentences

Williams was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2015, he suspects, because of his exposure to Agent Orange, a herbicide used by the U.S. military to reduce enemy cover in the Vietnamese jungle.

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More than half of that spraying involved the dioxin-contaminated defoliant Agent Orange.

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He died in 1994 at 45 years old from cancer likely related to Agent Orange exposure, and local advocates have worked for years to contextualize his crimes with his service-related mental illness.

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The mixture known as Agent Orange is a combination of two herbicides that the U.S. brought to Vietnam in huge volumes to kill off jungles and mangroves that hid opposition forces during the Vietnam war.

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Raffini, whose husband died because of cancer related to Agent Orange exposure during his military service, admires Brown because of his military service.

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