envenom

American  

[en-ven-uhm] / ɛnˈvɛn əm /

verb (used with object)

1. to impregnate with venom; make poisonous.

2. to embitter.

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envenom British  

/ ɪnˈvɛnəm /

verb

1. to fill or impregnate with venom; make poisonous

2. to fill with bitterness or malice

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Other Word Forms

• unenvenomed
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of envenom

1250–1300; Middle English envenimen < Old French envenimer. See en- ¹, venom

Example Sentences

Still, an ascent by Ben-Gvir, a West Bank settler, to a ministerial role would further envenom Israel's standoff with the Palestinians and strain its internal Jewish-Arab ties.

From Reuters • Oct. 18, 2022

Ahead as well lay the uncertain prospect of American casualties -- losses that could further envenom what was already a passionate post-cold war debate.

From Time Magazine Archive

To avoid the breach being healed by an apology, many of the crofters sought to envenom the quarrel by refusing to believe that the elder was altogether right.

From Literary Tours in The Highlands and Islands of Scotland by Holmes, Daniel Turner

To all the passions which usually envenom contests among countrymen, avarice was added, and rendered their enmity more rancorous.

From A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels - Volume 05 Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time by Kerr, Robert

M. Louis Blanc has distilled the bile of journalism; he has paused over the hasty sarcasm which political animosity deals forth, not to correct, or moderate, or abate, but merely to point and envenom it.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 56, Number 347, September, 1844 by Various