dioxin

[dahy-ok-sin]

noun Chemistry.

a general name for a family of chlorinated hydrocarbons, C12H4Cl4O2, typically used to refer to one isomer, TCDD, a by-product of pesticide manufacture: a toxic compound that is carcinogenic and teratogenic in certain animals.

Compare Agent Orange.

Origin of dioxin

First recorded in 1965–70; di-¹ + ox- + -in²

Also called TCDD

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for dioxin

Contemporary Examples of dioxin

“Dioxin” is the dirtiest of dirty words and this designation, like the chemical itself, does not degrade.
Antibacterial Soap’s Deadly Secret
Kent Sepkowitz
May 21, 2014
Unfortunately, the waste oil had a dioxin concentration 2,000 times higher than that in Agent Orange.
Antibacterial Soap’s Deadly Secret
Kent Sepkowitz
May 21, 2014
It is the connection of triclosan to dioxin that has appropriately raised the hackles of so many.
Antibacterial Soap’s Deadly Secret
Kent Sepkowitz
May 21, 2014
Yushchenko had been poisoned with dioxin during the campaign, most likely by allies of Moscow.
Yulia Tymoshenko: She's No Angel
Christopher Dickey
February 23, 2014

British Dictionary definitions for dioxin

dioxin

noun

any of a number of mostly poisonous chemical by-products of the manufacture of certain herbicides and bactericides, esp the extremely toxic 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-para-dioxin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for dioxin

1919, from dioxy- + chemical suffix -in (2). All the compounds in the group are characterized by two oxygen atoms.

dioxin in Medicine

dioxin

[dī-ŏk′sĭn]

n.

Any of several carcinogenic or teratogenic heterocyclic hydrocarbons that occur as impurities in petroleum-derived herbicides.

dioxin in Science

dioxin

[dī-ŏk′sĭn]

Any of several toxic hydrocarbons that occur as impurities in petroleum-derived herbicides, disinfectants, and other products. Dioxins are composed of two benzene rings connected by two oxygen atoms, and the most familiar kind, called TCDD, has two chlorine atoms attached to each benzene ring. TCDD was once thought to cause cancer and birth defects, but subsequent research showed it to have only mild toxic effects except at very high exposure levels.

dioxin in Culture

dioxin

[(deye-ok-sin)]

A group of pollutants created as by-products in many industrial processes. Dioxins accumulate in human tissue and affect human metabolism. They are carcinogens. Eliminating dioxins is an important goal of environmental policy.