median lethal dose


noun
  1. the quantity of a lethal substance, as a poison or pathogen, or of ionizing radiation that will kill 50 percent of the organisms subjected to it in a specified time period. Symbol: LD50

Origin of median lethal dose

1
First recorded in 1945–50

Words Nearby median lethal dose

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How to use median lethal dose in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for median lethal dose

median lethal dose

noun
  1. the amount of a drug or other substance that, when administered to a group of experimental animals, will kill 50 per cent of the group in a specified time

  2. the amount of ionizing radiation that will kill 50 per cent of a population in a specified time

  • Abbreviation: LD 50

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