Agent Orange

American  

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.

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Agent Orange British  

noun

1. a highly poisonous herbicide used as a spray for defoliation and crop destruction, esp by US forces during the Vietnam War

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Agent Orange Scientific  

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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Etymology

Origin of Agent Orange

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

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Agent Orange

He went home to St. Louis, joined the antiwar movement, and died at 39 from exposure to Agent Orange, leaving behind a wife and five kids.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 8, 2026

Suspecting an environmental link, the scientists and officials considered various possible culprits, from a rare moose-borne parasite to blue-green algae blooms to Agent Orange sprayed on the province in the 1970s.

From BBC ● Jan. 10, 2026

In 1969, evidence linked a chemical in Agent Orange, 2,4,5-T, to birth defects and stillbirths in mice because it contained TCDD, a particularly harmful dioxin.

From Salon ● Apr. 30, 2025

Millions struggle with the aftereffects of Agent Orange and other herbicides the United States sprayed across the south, while unremediated explosives remain a mortal danger.

From Slate ● Apr. 30, 2025

No Agent Orange in her family, we checked the records, you can never be too careful.

From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood