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

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

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

The shutdown left exposed open pits of soil contaminated with dioxin, the deadly byproduct of Agent Orange, which the American military sprayed across large swaths of the country during the Vietnam War.

From Salon • Mar. 19, 2025

Besides increasing advisors, he had authorized the spraying of highly toxic Agent Orange and other defoliants to destroy enemy cover in the jungle, as well as rice crops in areas controlled by the Viet Cong.

From "Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam" by Elizabeth Partridge