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

Unfortunately, the waste oil had a dioxin concentration 2,000 times higher than that in Agent Orange.

From The Daily Beast

It is considered among the most toxic chemicals known and is the action compound in the notorious Agent Orange.

From The Daily Beast

The United States used Agent Orange against the North Vietnamese (and in South Vietnam).

From The Daily Beast

When Dean died at age 42 of what was believed to be Agent Orange–related cancer, Hagel gave the eulogy.

From The Daily Beast