herbicide
Americannoun
-
herbicides
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of herbicide
Explanation
A chemical that's used on lawns or gardens to kill weeds is an herbicide. When herbicides are used on food crops, they target unwanted plants but leave the crops unharmed. Some towns and cities have banned certain herbicides, fearing that they're not safe for humans, pets, and other animals. In many instances, herbicides are seen as a necessity for growing large crops or controlling invasive weeds that threaten structures as well as lawns and gardens. The word herbicide comes from the Latin roots herba, "grass, turf, or vegetation," and the suffix -cide, "killer."
Vocabulary lists containing herbicide
Biodiversity and Humans - Middle School and High School
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Biodiversity and Humans - Introductory
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Agriculture
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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:
Several European countries have already restricted some uses of the herbicide.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 23, 2026
The weedkiller has come under increasing scrutiny as Bayer, Roundup’s maker, has faced thousands of lawsuits alleging it failed to warn people the herbicide could cause cancer.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2026
Bayer has spent more than $10 billion settling thousands of cases linked to glyphosate since it acquired the US agrichemical group Monsanto in 2018, developer of the popular herbicide Roundup.
From Barron's ● May 12, 2026
Monsanto revolutionized American agriculture by developing the powerful herbicide.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 27, 2026
Also, organic cows, like Rosie the organic chicken, are never fed corn that contains residues of atrazine, the herbicide commonly sprayed on American cornfields.
From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan
In 2001, Fairfax lawmakers enacted a ban on all herbicides, insecticides and rodenticides on public land.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
Farmer Dave Bell, chair of the Voluntary Initiative for the use of Plant Protection, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that he relies on herbicides like glyphosate.
From BBC ● May 6, 2026
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also defended the move in public, even as he maintained that pesticides and herbicides are “toxic by design.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 27, 2026
And local deliberations rarely compare the impact of solar farms to common agricultural practices, which can lead to runoff from fertilizers and herbicides, for example, or waste lagoons from concentrated animal feeding operations.
From Salon ● Apr. 27, 2026
As we have seen in the preceding chapter, many of the chlorinated hydrocarbons, the phenols, and some herbicides interfere with oxidation and energy production within the cell.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
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.
