cyanide
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
noun
-
any salt of hydrocyanic acid. Cyanides contain the ion CN – and are extremely poisonous
-
another name (not in technical usage) for nitrile
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of cyanide
1820–30; cyan- 3 + -ide ( def. )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
EU foreign ministers approved the measures alongside a ban on exports to Sudan of mercury and cyanide, chemicals widely used in gold mining.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
Not only does the extraction of metals like gold involve large amounts of water, but it also uses cyanide and releases other pollutants, posing major environmental and health risks.
From Barron's ● May 15, 2026
"In 2006, nearly 2,000 residents suffered from vertigo, sight problems and nausea after it rained in Guney, with blood tests showing cyanide in their blood," he said.
From Barron's ● May 15, 2026
After the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London, a dozen residents had to be treated for cyanide poisoning.
From BBC ● Mar. 16, 2026
The atmosphere outside the dome was cyanide, and Earth was 446,120,000,000,000,000 miles away.
From "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut
Some carbon-containing compounds are not classified as organic, for example, carbonates and cyanides, and simple oxides, such as CO and CO2.
From Textbooks ● Feb. 14, 2019
Opponents have particularly expressed concerns over the 57,000 tonnes of explosives, 46,500 tonnes of cyanides and 142m litres of fuel WWF estimated the company will use over the mine’s 12-year lifespan.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 27, 2018
And after the war, he used his know-how to develop pesticides - including that notorious group of nitrogen-based toxins, the cyanides.
From BBC ● Jun. 6, 2014
Other suspect factors: "Ammonia, pyridine and pyridine derivative, cyanides and sulpho-cyanides, arsenic."
From Time Magazine Archive
Huggins had found organic matter in the comets; in subsequent years cyanogen, CN, consisting of a carbon and a nitrogen atom, the molecular fragment that makes cyanides, was identified in the tails of comets.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
In some cases the crushed ore straight from the crushing mill is cyanided, in others it is simply the remains left over from the previous amalgamating process which is thus treated.
From Marvels of Scientific Invention An Interesting Account in Non-technical Language of the Invention of Guns, Torpedoes, Submarine Mines, Up-to-date Smelting, Freezing, Colour Photography, and many other recent Discoveries of Science by Corbin, Thomas W.
Some 25,000 persons yearly visited the prefectural 12-chō experiment station, which within a year had distributed to farmers 7,600 cyanided fruit trees and 80 bushels of special seed rice.
From The Foundations of Japan Notes Made During Journeys Of 6,000 Miles In The Rural Districts As A Basis For A Sounder Knowledge Of The Japanese People by Scott, J.W. Robertson
The methods employed are multitudinous, but may be divided into four classes, namely, washing, amalgamating with mercury, chlorinating, cyaniding and other leaching processes, and smelting.
From Getting Gold: a practical treatise for prospectors, miners and students by Johnson, J. C. F. (Joseph Colin Frances)
The ore contains free gold, which is extracted by the simple process of stamping and amalgamation, and refractory values, extracted by the cyaniding process.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 10 "David, St" to "Demidov" by Various
The total cost per ton of ore treated is about 6s., of which the cyaniding costs from 2s. to 4s.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 2 "Gloss" to "Gordon, Charles George" by Various
With mercury, perhaps two or three more dollars' worth can be extracted, and another couple of dollars by cyaniding.
From The Boy With the U.S. Miners by Rolt-Wheeler, Francis
The boys were deeply impressed as they looked down into the valley where the mining, milling, and cyaniding were going on.
From Frank Merriwell, Junior's, Golden Trail or, The Fugitive Professor by Standish, Burt L.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
